Making Space for Silence

Living in a world enveloped by constant noise - oh how silence gives us the space to say what we want.

That’s exactly what silence is - spaciousness.

Lately I’ve been noticing an attraction, a pull towards open space. Living in Santa Fe we have plenty of that. Vast skies above stretch on endlessly, mountains in the distance appear as close friends - grounded, strong, always there when you need them.

I had a moment in a field the other day. I looked up at that giant, cloudless, blue sky and then looked down at the tiny black box in my hand. And in that moment I could feel the container of that black box - and all its attempts to contain me. Closing in on my world, making it smaller and smaller, tighter, limiting my movement. Not just physical movement, but the movement of my mind. My attention became narrow and strained, uncomfortable.

Here I was standing in this beautiful expanse, but my mind was constrained. I played with these differences - going from the empty field to the tiny box, and noticing the shift in perception. It made me think of the act of street photography - this expansive state we enter where we open our attention entirely to the world, and notice everything around us. I felt grateful for having such a channel at my fingertips. But also sad that so many do not. That so many are trapped in this tiny black box for most of their days without even noticing the great field, the expanse available to them.

So much happens in a day – good news and bad, calm states, turbulence, worry. Silence illuminates all, purifying the mind for the moment, giving it rest. Silence includes both the outer noise and the inner chatter. It is a rare moment when we can be truly silent without and within.

But we must make room for this silence, this quiet - every day.

How can we know who we are, what the world is, or what is truly dear to us - if we never make space for that silence? Never make time to really know? In that tenderly created space of silence - things can settle, we can connect to who we really are, and ask ourselves the big questions - and try to love them.