77 – Quiet *

Special thanks to Ann-Christine for providing the photos. Ann-Christine is in Sweden and I encourage readers to visit her photography blog Leya: To see a world in a grain of sand. Please tell her I sent you and feel free to comment on her images here. Ann-Christine’s work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Click the video above for 2 minutes of background waves while reading.

I like walking on the beach. It’s good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

Today I think about quiet – that calming word signifying no sound. Quiet – a time and place that questionably exists. Quiet – when there seems to be little noise, action, or activity – a time of still – an important personal time. They are all quiet.

Walking on the beach can be a place of quiet for listening to nature and for quieting the mind. The sea is never quiet –  never still – but it can be quiet for calming the mind. The sea’s roar is not quiet – but it can be the white noise for solitude. The wind whistling by my ears and the waves clapping as they wash ashore – yet, I can hear the popping of small bubbles on my feet, 

Our mind is seemingly never quiet. We may remove our mind from a routine,  but thoughts continuously race in our head and frequently bouncing between subjects. A racing mind is far from quiet. Sometimes when I walk the beach, my mind is like the perpetual activity of the sea. 

Silence of quiet can be loud – even deafening – sometimes not from the outside, but the zooming noise in the active mind. On the other hand, the silence of quiet can be a symphony for the inner soul. 

Quiet is like an open meadow or standing on a mountain top overlooking serenity – but it is not void of sound – yet the mind may slow down to enjoy the relative quiet of the moment.

Life today is not only like a perpetual motion machine, life seems to be going faster and faster. Therefore, quiet is an important mental health club: a time, a place where one can enjoy the spirit of reflection, imagination, or just rest – including a time away from technology. 

Quiet is a reason some meditate or practice yoga. Others find quiet while jogging or riding a bicycle. Others find quiet in music, reading, or sitting by a crackling fire or on a dock of the bay. These are times to quiet the mind.

Quiet is being on the road that seems to go nowhere – and you don’t care because you are enjoying the time away from the noise of life – simply time to enjoy the moment. 

The roar of the waves can resemble societal noise. From the rambling anger and tremors of political pundits trading political soundbites over seeking meaningful solutions to real problems to the mountains that are molehills, they are far from quiet.

The news focuses on negative events of the day that are far from quiet – therefore, mirroring the sounds of busy traffic.

The roaring waves resemble the roundtable discussion where being heard is more important than listening. It is in quiet that we learn to listen to ourselves and ponder what others have said.

The roar of the waves is the metaphor for now. Think of the immediacy of voice mail, call waiting, call forwarding, texting, email, and other modern technologies. I typically go without my phone on these beach walks to give me a respite from the immediacy of today’s world.

The sounds of the beach serve as white noise. While my walk is absent of crowds, the active water delivers an inner stillness to the mind and soul – a time when the mind can both relax and focus – yes – a time of quiet. A time of solitude. A time of resting the mind. Even a time for focusing the mind. 

Quiet is a time or a place where one finds peace and tranquility. Away from daylight’s activity, the quiet of night provides twinkling moments of reverence under the sparkles of the stars and the glistening moon. 

Quiet is a place for the still without noise or voices – a place for the muted, the faint, indistinct, the inaudible, or the whispered. Quiet as a mouse or a lamb. Quiet enough to hear a pin drop. 

While cruising in Alaska, I remember with its night still being like dusk, seeing the outlines of the mountains that were dark shadows with only a very rare sighting of electric light. That’s also quiet.

I also recall one morning when cruising the Danube. All alone on the top deck, I could hear the splashes of water as the moving ship created a constant breeze. This setting was quiet enough for me to hear the calls of morning birds in the distance. That’s also quiet.

I enjoy walking into a church where I am alone. That quiet sense of awe and wonder is peaceful and quiet. Libraries are another place of reverence with a hush driven by the power of the knowledge found in the printed words bounded by covers.

Quiet – a time when one is aware of every thought and every feeling – a grand awareness – a time delivering peace of mind.

Quiet – hush, still, faint, peace, tranquility, reverence, pleasant, soothing, and restful. Not only are all quiet, quiet is a reason I like walking the beach. After all, I like walking on the beach because it is good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

See what other bloggers have written about quiet

• Quiet (poem)
• Local Walks: a lake and a forest in the quiet season (essay and photos)
• Quiet (photo essay)
• His Quiet Reflections (poem)
• Quiet Stories (fiction short story)
• Quiet (poem)

Next Post: Creativity – Saturday 22 March @ 1 AM (Eastern US)

Follow Beach Walk Reflections

• Facebook (BeachWalk Reflections)
• Instagram (BeachWalk Reflections)
• Twitter (@ReflectionsWalk)
• WordPress (Follow or Subscribe)