The Sound of silence.

3-D frost on the ground

It’s winter. It feels like there is more space to revel in the morning doves with their touching songs, the thick low hanging skies, and 3-D frost covering all the low plants in the orchard.  The thick frost coats everything as far as the eye can see. Dartmoor, out of my front window, is changed to a translucent white. This is winter in Devon. 

This time of year seems more empty, yet so much is happening. This is a time when plants die or slow or go into hibernation. Deciduous trees are dormant, while their nourishing roots are full of sugary sap, 

All this will change in Spring when the ground warms up again. The sap will rise, supplying energy for new shoots and leaves. Magic. Simple. A natural cycle.

We all need rest to regenerate our lives and appreciate the sweetness in our roots. It’s so easy to lose sight of this in the non-stop world of social media, anxiety producing news, and the “bigger, better, faster, more“ model. 

It’s easy to forget that these natural cycles, like difficulties and pains and bereavements, are also natural and normal and important for living awake and authentically.

For myself, it has been quite a big bereavement to feel as if I have ‘lost’ the last 4 1/2 years of my life dealing with the whole cancer malarkey. When in fact, there has been a sweetness that has intensified and continued to nourish my soul.

So much has happened whilst I’ve been forced to be ‘still’ and tend to what needed to be attended to. Appreciating space, silence, simplicity, and nothing.

Clearing by Martha Poselthwaite

Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself
to this world
so worth of rescue.

And so my dear friends, I encourage you to appreciate the natural cycles in your life. Appreciate the last throws of winter and the resilient making pauses that create a truly dynamic wholehearted life.

To this end, I am just about to go on a two-week silent retreat to regenerate and refresh my batteries. This is a natural reset to remember the importance of silence and nothing.

Here’s to appreciations for natural cycles and spaciousness. Rock on resting, digesting and sacred wholing pauses.

What ways do you find your pause commitments in your life?

What’s one small thing could you do today to celebrate taking a pause? 

How do you incorporate the sound of silence?