One positive I’ve gotten out of the COVID-19 pandemic is my new found love for walking.
Whenever the weather permits, I love going for walks around my neighborhood. When the sun is shining, it feels like it is charging me up for an energy-filled day. Night time walks, though, have a special place in my heart. There’s nothing more humbling than looking up at a dark, wide sky and seeing the millions of stars that lay there.
I sometimes like to walk with headphones in. I’ll listen to music or an interesting podcast.
However, I am finding myself doing this less and less. Instead, I’ll leave my phone at home and walk in silence. Well, not technically silence, but without my headphones in, I am alone with nothing but my thoughts.
It goes without saying that today more than ever, we are bombarded with stimuli. We live in a 24/7 news cycle; the latest news from the world, our friends, and even strangers are just a notification or app away. This rush of stimuli never ends, and many of us are victim to it.
Still, when we have opportunities to be alone with ourselves, most of us still choose to fill the air with something. We’ll watch a new show on Netflix when we’re home alone, or we’ll play music in the car when we’re driving somewhere. I walk down the street to work, and almost everyone I see has headphones in.
We never give ourselves an opportunity to just be in silence.
To be alone with ourselves and our minds.
I think it can be a scary thing for many people to be alone with their thoughts. Maybe that’s why we do everything in our power to avoid ever being there.
Thoughts can inhibit us. They can make us feel helpless. Many people nowadays struggle with overthinking, anxiety, rumination, negative thinking, insecurity, stress; the list is endless. These are all products of the mind, and when we are finally alone with our minds, we are forced to deal with everything that has been plaguing us. When we can’t distract ourselves, we’re forced to face what we’ve been distracting ourselves from.
But something I’ve been learning is that silence is where we discover who we truly are. Silence is where we discover our “basic inseparability from the whole universe.” (credit to Alan Watts.)
I am reminded of this every time I go on a walk and leave my phone at home.
A tall standing tree, a squirrel digging a hole to store its acorn, the sounds of birds above me, strangers walking and talking down the street; each of these are uniquely beautiful in their own way. But I take them for granted when I’m not paying attention.
Remove the music. Remove the social media. Remove the distractions and all the outside noise.
What’s left?
Nothing but you, God, and the entire universe.
Why would we ever want to hide from that? Why would we ever want to numb ourselves from this miracle of existence?
Because we’re afraid? Or we think we’ll be bored? Or we’re just not used to ever being alone with ourselves?
Maybe the pain, or the boredom, or whatever feelings we’ve been avoiding have something to teach us. Maybe it’s in our moments of discomfort that we discover things about ourselves that we would never learn if we were always comfortably distracted.
Opportunities to be in silence are sacred, because they are where so many truths about both life and ourselves are found. When the external noise is lowered, the inner truth can finally make itself known.