Core Decorum: silence

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In today’s world, it is nearly impossible to find a place where it is completely silent. Even out in nature, there are noises all around you. But some of these noises and distractions are good alternatives to the constant swarms of sounds plaguing our minds.

It is important to find a place where you can go to sit in silence.

Leave the phone and the people behind; go out and find a secluded spot of woods or a grassy plain with a creek running through it; immerse yourself in the silence all around.

Silence has become a forgotten art. The ability to spend an extended amount of time alone either with one’s thoughts or in prayer, takes a great deal of patience.

It also requires that we be comfortable enough inside our own heads; being erroneous humans, it is challenging to face our own thoughts, feelings and faults without making excuses or pushing those thoughts away while distracting ourselves with technology.

Living in the social world of today, we are continuously attempting to build relationships through messaging, social media or even through the incessant socialization of our university community. But in doing this, we neglect two very important relationships: friendship with ourselves and with God.

The fact that very few of us can go for more than a couple hours without giving in to the urge to log in to social media clearly shows that we do not have a relationship with ourselves.

We cannot be alone with our thoughts and take time for necessary self-reflection if we do not give ourselves the opportunity. This requires consciously resisting the temptation of technology and distracting sounds.

If we can sit alone in silence, perhaps simply enjoying the natural world around us, we can rediscover the whole world that exists outside of technology, and even outside of society.

Let us challenge ourselves this week to find time for silence, without the distractions. Perhaps we will find that we enjoy spending time with our own thoughts. And if we don’t, then at least we know that we need to rebuild that relationship.

Once we can be alone in silence, we will come to realize that we are happier when we return to our social lives. We will have a deeper confidence in ourselves and will not let the negative opinions of others affect our minds.

If we can be happy with who we are while alone in silence, our lives will be enriched and our minds set free from the bonds of technology and social pressures.

With this self-reflection and freedom, we will be able to expend our efforts on becoming the best versions of ourselves instead of wallowing in nebulous uncertainty.

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