My diary helps me to sort out stuff that’s going on in my mind. I not only write, I also add pictures that reflect the mood I am in. Cutting the the pictures from magazines, they usually show nature, flowers or interiors, no people. For this picture I made an exception. Years ago I found this picture, but it never fitted to my mood, until last week.
The two ladies suddenly seemed to speak to me, how they are walking on the street, the older one walking with a stick, the younger one helping the older one by holding her arm, very naturally it seems, very quiet. I saw how easy it is to keep ourselves busy with the shouting voices in everyday life, the voices that shout: faster, bigger, higher. The voices are so dominant, that we are tempted to forget the ‘common’ things, the silent things.
It doesn’t matter if you are a banker, a musician or a cleaning lady, we all just natter through our lives. We try the best we can, even if it never will be good enough, never really satisfying, except for some precious moments. And we keep on nattering.
What’s really important, is to see the special in the ‘common’. Every human is special, special in his or her way of coping with challenges and setbacks. We all have them, even if we don’t show, because it makes us vulnerable. The best that we all can do, for ourselves and for others, is to support each other a bit in our natter, to support each other in seeing the special everywhere, especially in the little things.
We humans are a social species. Evolution shaped us in such a way, that we feel better when we help someone else. We could use this trait to our advantage more often. Helping someone else makes us feel better than shopping for another cover for your smartphone does, because the good feeling lasts longer.
As society, we put more value to the loud voices that support our hunt for fame and money, than to the silent voice that asks us how we can help each other best. Society asks us to compete, to see the other person as enemy. Research has now shown how important silence is to us. Our brains need silence in order to regenerate and to evaluate. Only if we dare to be quiet more often, we can listen, we can hear the voice that asks us to help each other, to support each other, to be strong together.
When was the last time that you experienced silence?