Take a deep breath.
Here is 1 creation, 1 quote, and 1 question to consider this week...
1 Creation From Me
“In the silence before the noise” — a true story
*Click above to listen to the story
I was in my early twenties and had just returned from a fishing retreat with my dad. We had been far into the vast Canadian wilderness, and my home at that time was Hell’s Kitchen, New York City.
And when I say “wilderness”…here’s what I mean:
The fourth and final flight of the expedition to get us to the lake was a tiny seaplane. It took us from the small town of Red Lake, Ontario, and dropped us off on a dock directly in front of our cabin.
This cabin—our home for a full week—had no electricity, an outhouse, propane-fueled appliances, and this state-of-the-art emergency alert system: a huge GREEN panel lying atop the dock.
“If you get into any trouble, flip that green panel over,” said the pilot. “I’ll circle overhead once a day, and if I see a RED panel, I’ll know to land.”
Yes. It was wild. It was wilderness.
Now you can imagine my shock upon arriving back in the seemingly “normal” hustle and bustle of midtown Manhattan. But that’s when I heard it for the first time…
Everything.
Sirens.
Cell phones.
Beeping taxis.
Electricity humming.
Neon signs buzzing.
Street cleaners.
Garbage trucks.
Public buses.
What the f-!
It was deafening.
How did I not hear it before?
What have I missed in all of this manmade mayhem of noise?
When-oh-when will I get to experience true silence again?
Then, years passed, and silence happened again.
I experienced it on a tiny Fijian island—one that took about ten minutes to walk completely around. That evening, we slept with nothing but the ocean’s tune lulling us to sleep.
Then again, it happened while crossing the Nullabor in Australia, when the midnight sky erupted with a billion bright stars in every direction upwards and out across the horizon—with not another soul around aside from my also awestruck wife, Alisa.
And the more I experienced this deep silence, the more I craved it.
Because in that silence is where the answers live.
In that silence is where peace begins.
In that silence is where all of creation, inspiration, and appreciation are found.
It happened on the southern tip of South Bruny Island in Tasmania, high up in the glorious Rocky Mountains of Breckenridge, Colorado, and I found it yet again in Tulum, Mexico, after a direct hit from Hurricane Grace knocked out electricity for several days in 2021.
When the whirring electric boxes—that I hadn’t even “heard” before—stopped abruptly, the silence was thick.
And now, it happens all the time in my home of Tamarindo, Costa Rica.
It’s typically just as the sun is rising, and the silence is broken only by birdsongs and ocean waves…and all is well in the world.
It’s in the silence before the noise, where peace, connection, creation, freedom, and joy are all discovered—because they are always there…
Always here…
In the silence before the noise.
1 Quote From Another
Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle on the creative power of silence:
“True intelligence operates silently. Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.”
Source: Stillness Speaks (2003)
1 Question For You
When was the last time you experienced true silence?
Imagine what you might be missing in all this noise.
If this resonated, pass it along to someone who might need it today. Let’s grow this circle!
Until next time, freethinkers…stay present, be pleasant, and have an amazing day!
Mike Messeroff
Founder of The Carpe Diem Company + Personal Freedom Coach
Creator of Self-Hospitality
Author of Dogs Get It: Advice I learned from my best friend
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