Blissful Silence

Got quiet?

Last week, I was on vacation at a lakeside cabin in Maine.

I took a long walk on the camp road – a meandering, tar strip cutting through a hemlock forest.  Pine needles and deep beds of moss covered the ground.  Mushrooms of all shapes and sizes sprouted everywhere.  Granite boulders, leftovers of the ice age, were coated in moss and lichen.  Bars of golden sunlight slashed through the conifer branches.

I paused and soaked in the silence.  At first, to my untrained ear, it was complete.  Utterly quiet.  No background hum of air conditioning.  No low crackle of florescent lighting.  No office chatter.  No beeps.  No rings.  No vibrating mobile phone.  No windows popping up and demanding my attention.

But then I started to pick up the sounds.  The breeze knocking loose pine needles.  A red squirrel scurrying through the underbrush.  The birdsong.  My own breathing.

A good reminder that downtime is important and let’s you refocus on the smaller details.