Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Oct/Nov 2018 Aspire Mag Full Issue | Page 76

the words had been uttered. In conferring
with others since then, I have found this
to be common. We are so used to noise
that our brain goes into overdrive to keep
the peace away. After a while, though, the
noises lessen (although they never stop)
and the beauty of the silence blossoms.
the opportunity to succeed. As your family
comes to appreciate the practice, try building
up to several hours, and, eventually, a half-
or even an entire day. Longer sessions are
tougher to hold together but are unbelievably
meaningful. Everyone may come to love the
practice so much that you’ll want to schedule
it regularly. One family I knew observed
a weekly Saturday Morning Silence from
wakeup until noon.
Other types of non-spoken communication
— writing, signaling, sign language — should
be discouraged during silent sessions.
Eliminating such idle “prattle” may be tough
or impossible at first. A family in a spiritual
discussion group I once facilitated found
that giving everyone small note pads to jot
down “important” thoughts they were dying
to share helped the transition. However, the
notes were not passed around until the silent
period was over.
The first time I observed a period of
silence I was shocked: not by the quiet,
but by the noise. My mind rushed to fill
the stillness with its own jabbering, which
rebounded around my brain as loudly as if
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Luxuriate in it. Listen to the sounds around
you, from your child’s sweet breathing to that
always ticking clock you never observed.
Look closely at the auburn streaks in your
daughter’s black hair, the green in your son’s
finger-painting, your almond appliances —
they’re not really the color of an almond, are
they? Pay attention to how your own face
feels to your fingertips. Your world will seem
more vibrant than before, because when
you shut down the avenue where so much
energy usually escapes, it is rechanneled to
the other senses.
Like so many spiritual practices, keeping
silent for even the shortest time will feel weird
at first, especially to your kids. I promise it
gets easier with practice. And the rewards
— in terms of increased serenity and your
family’s more intimate ways of being with
one other — are well worth the work.
Meryl Davids Landau - Meryl is the author of the book Enlightened
Parenting: A Mom Reflects on Living Spiritually with Kids, named a
finalist in the Indie Excellence Awards. She also wrote the spiritual
women’s novel Downward Dog, Upward Fog, a fiction book of the year
finalist in the Foreword Reviews Awards. Her work has appeared in
numerous publications, including Parents, O: The Oprah Magazine,
Glamour, Self, Redbook, Reader’s Digest, Prevention, Huffington
Post, Vice and more. Meryl is a certified yoga teacher and Reiki
practitioner, and is the mom to two kids, now young adults.
Learn more at www.MerylDavidsLandau.com
www.AspireMAG.net | October / November 2018