Healthy Life Tip: Listen for the Silence

By Sarah Hodges

Tip: Listen for the Silence

“Every sound is born out of silence, dies back into silence, and during its life span is surrounded by silence. Silence enables the sound to be.” – Eckhart Tolle

When I notice that I’m getting ahead of myself or my mind is running a thousand miles a minute with thoughts of everything I must do or figure out, I often use this tool: stop, and listen.

First I listen for all the variety of sounds and pitches that exist in my present environment. I realize the background noise of very deep [low rumbling] tones and high ‘skreetchy’ notes that pass by me, unaware, until I take a moment for deep listening. Then I go through all these notes and audible sounds, listening for another layer: the inaudible, silence.

I imagine this silence as a physical entity sometimes, as if from a deep, resonant, completely silent spherical incubator all sound arises. (I imagine this spaceless space of silence as a massive spherical existence, with the deepest [profound,] inaudible [yet] booming echo – you might imagine some other shape or something completely different!)

As I listen, my mind stops its noisy jabber. I sense the world as somehow more expansive than I’d previously perceived. My body finds a bit more ease in its posture. My breath calms.

This moment of pause can be extremely effective in bringing a greater sense of ease, bringing our bodies and minds [take ownership here] back into harmony, reducing stress levels, centering.

You can try it right now as you read:

Sit back, soften your breathing, and listen deeper than you ever had before.

Listen beneath the surface noise.

Listen for the silence.

You just might find it, patiently waiting there for you.