Ssshhhh....

There was a game we would play when I was a child( I believe created by my mother!) who could sit silently for at least twenty minutes?  Without the television, radio, book, no distractions, just yourself and your thoughts.  I could never win this game! I needed questions answered, I had things to say and I needed to say them right NOW! Quickly! Before the thought flew from my brain, out of my ears, never to be seen again. My Mama was a quiet woman. Spoke when she had something to say and didn't babble, nor did she tolerate it from others, especially a daughter who couldn't be quiet. Oh yeah, that would have been me. Ssssshhh! she would say "Lynn( nickname)! Silence is golden." Mama's nice way of saying SHUT! UP! The S word in our house was considered a swear word, just like being called a Babbler was tantamount to being called a bitch. "Lynn, YOU are babbling and must sshh!" that shushing by the way was said so quickly sometimes it felt like a slap. As I got older, my mother decided to use my teenage vanity and ego against me to get silence: "Lynn, you know Men don't like women that talk a lot." Really? I would ask. "No, they will think she is dilly and full of empty thoughts" Mama would say. Now did this work? Of course it did! I was fifteen and thought I was The deepest, most evolved person alive. I couldn't have boys or anyone for that matter believing otherwise. The Silence Project began. What did this entail? Not feeling that I needed to be a part of every conversation and if someone is wrong with their facts on any given subject, let it go. Silence became golden! I learned, at around sixteen, to relax and just listen. As I have become older, the Silence Project has only gotten better. I have come to enjoy moments of stillness, silence and my own inner workings. Silence has stopped arguments for me, I don't respond until I am ready. When I am sad, angry or even happy; a moment of silence to ponder things over, reminisce over the good memories or go over what went wrong and how I can make it better or not, always helps. I have become that silent Woman (Lord! I am my Mama:) who can listen and take what I need and leave the rest. That Woman that doesn't have to fill the quiet with empty words to feel full. My best thoughts and idea's come from sitting silently,then getting to work and feeling that overwhelming sense of satisfaction. Peace, be still. Peace, be silent.