Silence is Golden

Courtesy of Creative Commons

This past weekend, I attended a silent retreat at the Sacred Heart Retreat Center. What does that entail? A lot of eye-hellos and even more talking to God. At a certain point, you run out of things to say in your head and you are forced to listen.

It is quite an experience sitting around a table of 8 women in silence. You start to notice all the clanks of plates and clatters of spoons, and the eating styles of women from the age of 22 (me, the chiquita) to 82. I picked up a few tricks; as the tea-fanatic I am, I learned a cool way to strain a tea bag. Place the pouch of leaves in the concave part of a spoon; wrap the string around pouch and spoon; squeeze. A very neat way to sip. The dining scene sounds like an exhibit I saw once at the LA Museum of Modern Art. A room full of projected videos on each wall, showing a certain function happening with a distinct noise. Ranging from vacuuming a room, to mowing a lawn, to hammering a nail, these noises together made some sort of symphony out of the daily humdrum. I had a similar experience at mealtimes with the fellow retreatants. With some smiles, hand gestures, and mouthing out 'water', we all filled our bellies.

Even more so, we filled our souls with peace. Besides the silence, it was a loud retreat in my mind. I couldn't put my pen down, thoughts surfaced in my brain that I had been ignoring, and I had conversations with God. Whoa. I recommend it to everyone. Whether you make a silent retreat yourself, or find one to attend, you are sure to learn a bit more about yourself as you leap into the journey within.

Who said silence is golden? I agree.