Our lives have been made much easier thanks to the hundreds of electronic gadgets and gizmos we come across every day; cell phones, computers, dishwashers, televisions, Playstations, X-Boxes, IPods, washing machines, planes, trains and automobiles just to name a few. What we have lost in return however, is the gift of silence. Rarely in the course of a day do most of us find any true peace and quiet. Nor are we treated to the pure, clean sounds of nature without the annoying background buzzes and beeps of modern life.
Our bodies and our spirits need silence to heal, to renew and refresh. Much of our irritability can be traced back to a lack of quiet time.
Studies prove that women typically are more sensitive aurally than men, probably because we've been alert to the sounds of our babies crying for ages. I'm living proof of that theory. My husband has found me many a morning wide awake and exhausted with my head buried under several pillows trying to drown out the mysterious hum coming from outside our window. He can no longer charge his cell phone in our bedroom because I can hear the charger when it's plugged into the socket. Our teenage children don't have a chance in hell of sneaking in or out of this house when I'm around. In order to maintain what is left of my sanity, I make a point of treating myself to moments of quiet every day. Here are a few suggestions to help you find the silence your body is craving.
- Turn off and unplug appliances and machinery when not in use.
- Take a walk or ride your bike without listening to your IPod. Just enjoy the sound of nature live and in person.
- Sit in the park on your lunch hour.
- Use manual versions of appliances when possible. Remember what a real can opener looked like before we could plug them in?
- Turn off the television, radio and cell phone for an hour or more.
- Pet your cat and listen to her purr.
- Enjoy some soothing music. I'm a huge fan of Spa Radio at http://www.pandora.com/.
- Purchase a sound machine. Mine has settings for a bubbling brook, rain, ocean waves, birds, heartbeat and white noise. While still an electronic device, it can at least mask the harsh sounds of my son saving the world on his XBox.
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