The Sound of Silence

During the Christmas holidays I went to a jungle resort nestled in a cosy valley, high up in the hills of Kerala. The place is completely cut off from civilisation with no phones, no internet, no roads and no traffic! It was so incredibly peaceful and quiet, that after a long time I got a chance to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life like the lovely view, the star lit sky, the cold breeze, the warmth of the bonfire, the fresh air, simple food and the overwhelmingly beautiful sound of silence.

Going on a holiday like this at the end of the year somehow made so much sense. It gave me a chance to slow down, re-cap the year gone by and plan for the future. So often, we go through life stumbling from one situation into the next, hardly aware of what is happening with no plan or direction in mind, when ideally we should stop and think. But few of us make time to think. Most of us make time to eat, drink and sleep, but some quiet time to think is something we leave out. Somehow it’s the last priority and seems almost absurd to schedule time to think. But it can make such a phenomenal difference, for only when we have some quiet time to ourselves are we able to think about things which are important to us, such as what we want out of life, our hopes, desires, dreams and how we plan to achieve the same. When we function without thinking we are moving and reacting based on our original plan, one which was probably made ages ago and has mostly changed over time due to other things that have taken place during the course of time. Hence we make it harder for ourselves to achieve our goals, dreams and desires as we are not working towards them based on the current circumstances.

To be able to think clearly one needs to have some quiet time to oneself, with absolutely no interruptions. For answers to some of life’s mysteries come to us only when we are quiet. And with silence comes peace and acceptance of life as it is….