How to Make a Friend of Silence

While we have very little control over noise in environment at large, we do have control over our own private environment. This is where we begin to cultivate a friendship with silence.

* Make a conscious commitment to experience and appreciation of silence.

* Go for a walk in nature. Let silence soothe your spirit.

* When you are alone in your residence turn off all noise making appliances. Begin with fifteen minutes of silence and gradually increase duration.

* Learn how to meditate and schedule a ten minute meditation period once or twice a day. Gradually extend your meditation time.

* When driving to work turn off your car radio and drive in silence.

* Go camping for an night by yourself. Find a quiet campground where they don't allow people to blast their music without consideration for others. I usually go solo camping for one week each year to be alone and silent in outdoors. It has become something I eagerly look forward to.

* Drive to a lake at sunset and rent a canoe. Paddle slowly along shoreline observing silent sights and gentle sounds of nature as sun sets and darkness approaches.

* In silence listen to your breathing. Get a sense of silent rhythm of life.

* Just before retiring go outside and look up at night sky. You will soon sense another universal rhythm so unfamiliar to many. Let night sky and darkness embrace you and calm you as you prepare for a night's rest.

* When you read a book, do so in silence. Many of us read to music or during television commercials. Try silence. You'll grow to love it.

Soon you will begin to cherish periods of silence you have built into your day and long for more. You will quickly discover that you are becoming more relaxed and less tense even in midst of our noisy world. You will have made an invaluable new friend in silence, a friend which can comfort, heal and soothe your spirit. What a gift you will have given yourself.

Be still and know restorative power of silence.

Mike Moore is an international speaker and writer on human potential, motivation and humour. You can check out his motivational books, tapes, special reports and manuals at http://www.motivationalplus.com/store.html

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In Good Health, Francoise Rapp www.aromalchemy.com

(c) Francoise Rapp, 2001. Discover life-transforming power of aromatherapy! Internationally renowned aromatherapist and alchemist, Francoise Rapp, shares her expertise through aromatherapy classes designed for working adults and in her free weekly ezine, The Arom'Alchemy Newsletter. All this and more can be found at www.aromalchemy.com.