I challenge you to sit still for at least an hour. A challenge of silence.

No

Phone

Music

Book

Friends

Games

Tech

Drawing

Creating

Cleaning

E

T

C

Sit down, relax and take a load off. No napping either that’s not silence that’s sleep and there’s quite a difference.

Find a cozy spot and sit. That’s all you have to do. You can close your eyes if you’d like, heck I’d recommend it. Focus on your breathing. Is it shallow? Probably. Most of us have never analyzed our breathing patterns. Short intakes, barely noticeable exhaling.

We don’t keep much air in there to care.

Sit, relax. 60 minutes and go!

Did you do it? I didn’t either but I have. I have on many occasions it’s not that hard for me but then I’ve had some practice. You spend enough time up yonder in those mountain moments you get a handful of silent opportunities.

I find it’s a valuable resource to observe silence. I’ve come quite a long way of being placed in the front row of the teachers in every classroom for 12 years.

Sit still Chad!

Be quiet Chad!

When I graduated high school I got louder. Busily brazen. And stood on that podium for years and years thinking you needed noise to make yourself heard.

Even when I was quiet I liked to be around noise

Crowd noise

Bar noise

Event noises

Work noise

Noise was where the fun was.

Noise is always moving fast. It gets you moving even when you don’t want to.

Noise can be chaotic.

I’m sure I could keep these examples coming for days. I think you get it.

I discovered silence not too long ago. Eh, more like it discovered me. I didn’t start hanging on the back of my tailgate, camping to observe silence. When I would head for the hills I’d bring something to occupy my time. Whether it was a tablet with a downloaded book, movie or game, my phone to scroll or some sort or camping gear or toy to keep me occupied I’d always have something in my hands. On some occasions I’d go up the mountain and realize I’d left my tablet behind or something I had to engage with while I sat in the woods. I did this for a few years. Sure I love camping, enjoy the outdoors and always ready for a healthy hike but sometimes I felt like my quest for solitude always seemed to lack something. The alcohol didn’t help. It was the loudest noise.

Stillness

Calm

Silence

When I was building my deli my free time was limited so I started doing quick trips up to Chimney Rock and I’d stay at the local Hickory Nut Gap campground. It was only a quarter mile from town but it had zero internet. I’d pull in around 1pm for check-in, unload my truck and stick my camping chair next to the river under the shade of a tree for hours. Sometimes I’d read but most times I’d stare into the water.

And let my mind go. The construction of the deli was sizzling my brain. I’d go up to escape for a night and come back the next morning after my morning walk into the village. I’d spend at least an hour or two starting into the river with my ear buds playing some groovy tunes. When they’d run out of charge I’d sit with them still in my ears but only listen to the river roll on by

And let my mind go

Your mind has a different way of explaining things to you when you sit still.

When you go quiet.

When the noise dissipates your mind settles down. You begin to follow suit.

Insert the calm

Serenity

Peace

Your brain is full of unfinished puzzles and knots. When you allow it to stew, to sit and ponder without getting all your noisy distracting shit in its way, the solutions to your puzzles begin to form.

The knots get untangled. Clarity begins to creep up.

The day I spent on Hunting Island while some random fog sat on top of the area the entire time, no WiFi, no internet, no electronics.. I sat under a tree in my hammock and did nothing all day. I took a long walk on the beach and I could barely see the ocean from the fog. It was eerily quiet from that pea soup screen of built up moisture. From 6am to 9pm I had only my thoughts to contend with. By the end of the day I would become a completely different person. Not overnight mind you but real fucking close. I’m sure there are a variety of reasons and or explanations of what I experienced while I perched in my tent that night

But

In my own opinion the stillness awoke the awareness.

I have to admit that for the next several camping trips I was trying to replicate that experience by forcing my silence into the scene. It became a staging. It just wasn’t the same for me. Like holding your breath when you aren’t under water. I need to submerge myself into the quiet and not try to jump in.

When it’s quiet you begin to listen.

You begin to filter out the clutter

Mind litter

Epiphanies tally

Big mind things become minuscule.

You begin to realize that voice in your head isn’t necessarily yours. It’s just an echo of your life’s experience.

Some trips I’ll strip down my distractions to observe my thoughts and actions. Your mind corrals around comfort zones and routines. It’s interesting to watch what you do, where your mind goes after it’s run out of diversions. I’ve watched myself walk around in circles in my camp until the noisy spell wears off.

And then

I sit

I let it go.

I let it all go.

The noise goes quiet

Deli hate goes quiet

Stress releases

I currently have my headphones on. I write with them to keep my focus. Sailing by Christopher Cross is slowly coming on. Anyone that enjoys this song gets what I mean. The song gradually picks up tempo and volume. Your shoulders slump. Sailing is Christopher Cross’s silence, his stillness.

I’ve been driving up the mountain almost weekly since April. Sailing is my camping.

“Takes me away to where I’ve always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free”

Silence/ stillness frees you from the distortion.

I spent my Sunday afternoon staring downhill into a mountain lake.

In complete silence.

My head did as it has always done. It started chatting away waiting for some engagement. When I didn’t reply it began to mutter quietly. Like a sleepy toddler refusing to lie down. Eventually it falls asleep and I’m left to myself.

My real self.

And we just sit.

Letting the slate cleanse itself.

Mental enemas

We aren’t meant to be this distracted. We deliberately do the dopamine drip to stay awake and fed. Turn off the faucet for a bit

I’ve closed quite a few noisy doors over the last couple of years just by being still.

Enjoying the silence.

An hour may not be an option for some of you, unfortunately because of all the noise we’ve created over time it may not be possible with the extra responsibilities we put on our platters.

Shouldn’t have to be an effort to sit still.