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| "Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom." -Sir Francis Bacon |
Silence
is most certainly golden. I don’t mean gilded in gold, with a pristine lacquer
jacket and rusted inner organs. No, I’m talking about pure, 100%, bonafide, 24k
gold. The kind of gold that runs for $1159.20 USD per oz (on a good day).
Friends,
for an experiment that was supposed to last a total of 21 days (the
Wikipedia-guaranteed time minimum for habit-breaking)… I have been silent for 21
days AND four months.
During
this extended time of reflection I have laughed more than I can remember
laughing in eons, and I have had enough adventures to take me contentedly into
2015.
I
learned a different kind of bravery when I single-handedly
brought down the house with a moving rendition of Barbara Streisand’s “Don’t Rain on My Parade” and an encore
performance of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Summertime.”
Red-faced, clammy-handed, and grinning from ear to ear, I took a bow before a
ship-full of strangers and laughed, delighted, when the pianist kissed my hand
and called me dahhhhling, with just the right amount of accent. It was truly the
cruise of a lifetime.
I
cultivated quality time with family. Board games,
card games, and crossword puzzles, I played them all. The ensuing
movie nights, family dinners, sports games, cleaning sprees, impromptu family extravaganzas,
time spent with the people I love made all of the silent hours worth it.
Finally,
the most important thing that I did during my silent, self-imposed hiatus, was
to practice loving myself. I took advantage of the
silence and remembered the things that make me a unique and valued individual.
I relearned the hopes, the dreams and the deep-dark cries of my heart and for
the first time in a long time, I listened.
Silence is indeed golden.
If
you are anything like me, you are currently spending too much time spinning
tall tales, too much time laughing at the jokes of others, and not enough time
making memories of your own. Here is the good news, its not too late to learn
the truth. In the words of Lao Tzu, “Silence
is a source of great strength.”
Until
now, I’ve been caught up in the crazy-wonderful-heartbeat of good-intentions
until a few of my quickly spoken words became too bitter to swallow back down. In
the past few months of silence I have done MORE. I have loved MORE. I have
laughed MORE. And I have lived MORE.
And
here is the best update of all…
While
I was busy keeping this wicked tongue of mine silent, I turned inward and set
myself (and my pen) loose on my greatest adventure to date. For every word that
I have deprived you of, my friends, I have given my story two. For every page
of travels I have forsaken in silence, I have taken my characters to places of
new heights.
The
time has come. This year has been a journey to top all journeys, and an
adventure to be remembered. I thank you all for the love and support, and the words
of encouragement. I am proud to announce that my 1st novel is nearly
complete! In my silence I found the voice
I had been missing for a while. My
own.
Beloved,
place a guard over the cover of your mouth and throw away the key. Give it to your husband, your wife, your
significant other, your sister, your brother, your best friend. Or best of all,
give it to your God for safe-keeping, and listen, what you hear when you are silent just may surprise you.
*
* *
“He
who has knowledge uses words with restraint: and a man of understanding is
even-tempered.” (Proverbs 17:27)
BEAUTIFUL!!!
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