Saturday Morning

~ Live & Learn

Silence is radical. When sustained, it has an effect on your perception comparable to that of any number of chemicals with which you might seek change. Your vision transforms, to start with; you suddenly find yourself absorbing what’s on the periphery, massive amounts of once-invisible data assailing your pupils. When you’re not preparing your next remark, your hearing capacity expands, too: the changing rhythms of the wind; the muted thud of a teardrop hitting the wooden floor; your neighbor’s beating heart. And taste, and smell, they’re amplified and shifted, as well — a cup of tea sipped without the surrounding dialogue is a more intricate cup of tea. Silence gives you the opportunity to know any number of an object’s facets that typically disappear behind the verbal screens we erect constantly, unthinkingly, between our selves and our environments. And surely the power of wordless touch is one each of us knows; I need not expand on that.

~ Anna Wood, “A More Intricate Cup of Tea”

Notes: Photo by Ezgi Polat. Quote: Thank you Beth @ Alive on All Channels

25 thoughts on “Saturday Morning”

  5. I love how you take the snippets of an original piece – the best parts- and share with us, thereby starting another conversation.

    Oh yes,.we do need to listen more so we can hear more…

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  6. Hmmm; I HAD to look up the ‘rest’ of the text, of course…. And I liked the paragraph before the ‘silence’ one even better:
    Sound remains; what’s left behind is the voice. What’s left behind is verbalism, language. What’s left behind are the sweet and not-so-sweet nothings of cohabitation, the can-you-pass-the-salts, the pleases without thought to the other person’s pleasure, the sparring, the automatic and constant gauging of the limits of common ground. What’s left behind is the voice, and with that gone, the ego suddenly fades three shades.
    This is a serious ‘wow’ article. Thanks Dave, for sharing – again!

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  8. When I went out in the garden at around 11 pm last night, it was totally silent. Not even the sound of cars in the distance. The temperature was about minus one degree C. The sky was totally clear and I could see loads of the star constellations, plus there was a cresent moon. It was quite beautiful, awesome, breathtaking. I retired to bed shortly afterwards feeling so peaceful and contented.

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  9. Moments of Silence is a necessity… Being immersed in silence gives one an intimacy within one’s self and an opportunity to appreciate & absorb the rhythm of environment…

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      1. Hello, Dave…Feb. 24 comment marked, this: it has been over two months since I commented…life is anew each day and their have been many, many challenges…

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  13. so the corollary to this, as Dana Milbank points out in the Wapo, is the absence of peace: goo.gl/AUziwv

    “The science is simple. If you are calm, your executive functions handled by the brain’s prefrontal cortex — organizing, problem-solving, self-control, decision-making — perform well. If you are overly stressed, those functions decline as your brain floods with cortisol. Stress is contagious, and if you are in the presence of somebody who is out of control — a parent, an employer or, say, a president — your own executive functions decline.

    “It’s a terrible thing for a chief executive of anything to be fear-mongering or emotionally reactive,” Johnson explained, “because all the bright capable people around you become less bright and less capable if they’re overly stressed.”

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