Post from Michelle:
At the beginning, keeping silent for ten days seemed like a daunting task. But after five days I am finding it easy and peaceful, even preferable. It is refreshing to be in a group of 140 people and yet there is no opportunity for cliques, no competition for attention and no insensitive statements. Usually in a large group, the louder ones dominate. But here, we are all individuals in the same boat, on the same level. It is refreshing.
So often we talk and never really listen to the words we speak. We spend much of our lives using words to impress, flatter, and convince. The silence has helped me look inside and my mind is able to reflect more deeply and listen on a deeper level.
Without words to clutter the air and mind, other sounds have emerged much louder. The sounds of nature have come alive! There is a symphony going on around us. Fish splash in the pond, birds sing melodies and leaves rustle with rhythm. Dragonflies hum, crickets fiddle tunes and frogs croak in harmony to the beat of the gecko's cry. All with the finale of a "boom!" as a coconut falls to the ground from high above.
Listening to nature, for days on end, has made my heart skip with delight.
So often we talk and never really listen to the words we speak. We spend much of our lives using words to impress, flatter, and convince. The silence has helped me look inside and my mind is able to reflect more deeply and listen on a deeper level.
Without words to clutter the air and mind, other sounds have emerged much louder. The sounds of nature have come alive! There is a symphony going on around us. Fish splash in the pond, birds sing melodies and leaves rustle with rhythm. Dragonflies hum, crickets fiddle tunes and frogs croak in harmony to the beat of the gecko's cry. All with the finale of a "boom!" as a coconut falls to the ground from high above.
Listening to nature, for days on end, has made my heart skip with delight.