A Novel Experience
A few hours ago, one of my writer friends said he couldn’t write. I asked the obvious, “writers block, David”? His response made me smile, I would have answered the question in a comparable way. “No, Steve, it’s not writers block, it’s far worse. At least when I suffer from ‘the block’ I write something and eventually I stop procrastinating and get back on track”.
“What could be worse”?
“I’m not sure what to call it. I’m simply not feeling it right now. It’s as though I have nothing to say. It’s just not important. My time is best spent elsewhere. Time for some reflection I think”.
Yesterday, form to justify why I was going out in my backpack, I headed to the hills for a short
mountain bike ride. I’m not going to share the detail of that here, except to say that it was a beautiful day. The wind was a bit of a challenge but that’s to be expected at this time of year in this region.
Touching The Silence
Usually I will see a few cars on the way up to the hills and forest. There are always some farmers working in the vineyards or driving along the tracks with their tractors or little white vans. Today there was nothing, nada, zero. The world was silent apart from the wind, the birds in the trees, my tires and breathing as I fought the wind on the opening 2.4 km climb.
Had I been able to take a hand off the bars, I would have reached out and touched the silence. It felt so profound. Yes, I could feel it. Best not let my children read this, it may confirm their suspicions.
It was more than silence like those rare occasions when we have the house to ourselves. More profound than that yet I can’t explain it, this is a novel experience, there is nothing to compare it to.
Keep Your Distance
That’s what we were advised a couple of weeks ago. It didn’t work out too well, not enough people took the advice, so the government stamped their authority with a few rules and closures. Although it’s not a fixed rule, we have been advised to stay at home for the next two weeks. Logical reason suggests that this is the explanation for the silence. It’s the most objective thought I can produce. But I don’t think it’s that.
What Then?
To answer that I need to copy my blog post from yesterday, in it’s entirety.
“We have to step back, take a breath and relax. What will be, will be. BEing HUMAN.
Namasté”
That’s it, “Sometimes” is the shortest post I’ve ever written. Nineteen words including the title. I must admit that before writing the post, I was feeling precisely what my friend David later described. Until I realized that we have been given a beautiful opportunity to reconnect with who we are and what our relationships really mean without the regular baggage that life has a habit of dropping in our laps. We are free to BE Human.
Is That The Reason For The Silence?
Though it can be a challenging exercise, evaluating where we are and where we want to be in life or business can present a goldmine of opportunity to seek whatever it is that we desire.
There are some beautiful posts out there that support such thinking. There are also a considerable number that argue that the world needs change and that is precisely what we are getting.
Of course, you might argue that we are already free to be human. That’s what we are. Yet are we always free to really lift the hood and look inside to discover what makes every one of us unique and amazing?
This is a perfect opportunity to enjoy the silence and connect.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend
Recent Comments
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Hi Steve
Head for the hills. Keep your distance and social distancing are methods to help stop the spread of COVID 19. Thanks for sharing. Russ
Another beautiful day. I just heard the city folks with second homes in the mountain villages are wandering around as though nothing has changed. Interesting.
Have a great weekend Russ.
Steve
And some are wondering around lost, not knowing what to do next. They come from a hectic city life to tranquility. ( SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM ). Most will adjust.
They think too that they are safe and removed from the virus. Clean air true but the virus is circulating there as in the cities.
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Kind of like the opposite to 'sensory overload'. With no stimulation from outside, do we then look within ?
On a few occasions, one of my offspring has gone without a mobile phone for a day or so, also without access to a computer. They have always said how 'blissful' it was. They enjoyed being disconnected. They missed nothing and enjoyed the time.
Once they were reconnected, it all began again.
It's a nice thought, to think that change will come, the cynic in me thinks life will return to how it was and we will all continue as we were before.
Hi Twack. An opposite for sure. Looking within is the place we find our solutions. Although we are taught to look outside, take a loan . . . . Yet many are indeed disconnected from this "within-ness" I would hope that folks have taken the opportunity to disconnect from the noise and surf the silence.
Somebody said the other day, "if 8000 people across the world change and they indirectly of directly influence just one person, we have 16000 people changed. Most will stay as they were, maybe even grow their fear-based thinking. Apparently 8K is also the square root of the earths population. There's a distracting thought.
S
It will be very interesting to see what comes of all this, that's all I've got really. Change on a global level, still has to start somewhere.
It has to start. Interesting that I've seen posts that are positively uncharacteristic of what I normally see from particular people on social media. Very encouraging :-)