Sounds of Silence

Shhhhhh.  Be still. Don’t say a word. Listen. What do you hear?  Nothing?  Isn’t that wonderful?!

I have always been a big fan of quiet. Even silence. But quiet and silence are two things  that are increasingly difficult to find. Go to a nice restaurant for dinner and there will inevitably be a table of rowdies nearby or a guy with a loud booming voice.  Listen to some soft music on the radio and some car dealership will come on and start yelling at you. Go to church and someone will have thought it was a good idea to bring a three month old to hear the pastor’s sermon.

I hear myself sounding a little cranky so let me turn that around. There are still a few places where quiet abounds.

There is nature. The sounds that you typically hear when you are in the woods are mostly quiet and natural. Those sounds belong there. The wind moving  tree branches, the  rustling of a squirrel in old leaves, the sounds of birds calling to each other announcing your arrival into their quiet.  I sometimes wish I could live in the woods.

There is your own home, where you can shut the doors and windows, ask other residents to leave, and turn off every electronic device that you own. Okay, that’s not practical and it is rude.

But I have found something to fulfill my need for silence. It’s called float therapy and it is amazing! You can do this at Metta Relaxation Company in Bethlehem (this is not a paid endorsement). You walk into the float room and lock the door behind you. You undress and get under the shower in the corner of the room. From there you enter the float tub, about six feet wide by ten feet long. It is about eighteen inches deep and filled with Epsom salt saturated, warm water. The temperature of the water is meant to be the same as your skin, so you don’t even know the water is there.  You lie back into the water and turn the light out. There is music softly playing, which gradually fades away. Now you are in total darkness and total silence, except for maybe a little ripple of water, for an hour and a half. Wow!  They announce the session as over by playing the music again softly and gradually louder.  Get another shower, get dressed, and back out into the world of noise and light.

Everything has to come to an end including this particular blog post. Enjoy your Sunday and I will talk to you again tomorrow. Remember….shhhhh.