The Trouble with Silence

The trouble with silence is that you start to hear things.

And then you have to deal with the noise.

This morning I decided to drive my daughter to school in silence.

We usually have the radio on but not today.

And in the silence I heard it.

A rubbing noise coming from one of the wheels.

I hadn’t heard it before. Most probably because I’d normally have the radio on.

It didn’t sound right.

Something was definitely wrong with one of the wheels.

My mind then started to race.

Did I need to take the car into be checked? If so, how long would that be for? What might they find? How much would it end up costing?

The unknowns loomed.

But unless I dealt with it now what could eventually happen? Would things get worse and cost me even more?

Sometimes silence can amplify sounds that are trying to tell us something.

Like gentle invitations to act they’re signals that all may not be well.

If we ignore them these whispers they can become waves, crashing down on us.

In the mad rush to get things done and make progress our busyness can drown out these quiet calls to action.

But we don’t take time to stop and listen because we’re scared of what we might hear. And what we might need to do.

But if we don’t stop now we might be forced to stop in the future.

Stopping now gives us the option to be proactive.

By just taking an hour to have the disc brakes checked I may save me a week of needing the whole axel replaced.

But I wouldn’t know whether to do this without pausing and being in the silence.

I’m finding that taking time for silence is helping me hear better.

And the more that I can hear the better decisions I can make.

Are you rushing forward with noise?

Is there a quiet call that’s asking you to slow down, be silent and consider where you’re going?