“Hello Darkness My Old Friend. I’ve Come To Talk With You Again”
These are the first two lines in a Simon and Garfunkel song from the mid sixties entitled “The Sound of Silence”. I resonate with this song each year as the days grow shorter and the nights longer. I find myself retreating inside during the winter months …and by this I mean not only retreating indoors but also retreating into the inner recesses of my mind. Winter is a time of contemplation for me. I’m looking at the year behind me and thinking about the year ahead. I’m taking time off from the business of daily living as I do this. Interestingly, this time of quiet contemplation is interspersed with the time I spend with friends and family in celebration…but my quiet time is essential.
Simon and Garfunkel’s song entitled “The Sound Of Silence” seems paradoxical on the face of it. For me though, darkness and silence go together. When my vision goes dark and is not bombarded by all the sights I encounter on a daily basis, I begin to see possibilities within my own mind. My imagination is allowed free reign to go wild. Similarly, when there is no sound, I hear the sound of my own voice as it percolates up from my sub-conscious. What is my deeper self-trying to tell me? I need to listen more deeply and this is easier when the noises around me quiet down.
Winter is an essential part of Life’s journey I believe. Everything around us is happening at lightening speed, so we need times of quietude and darkness to digest it all and figure out who we are evolving to be. For me this means looking back over the past year as well as decades before that. I notice that I find myself immersed in looking over pictures of fiends and family in earlier times. In these moments I’m reliving experiences with these folks…knowing that I will be seeing many of them again.
As I attend “family and friends” events this year, I will be remembering who these people are…not just now but also over the lifetime of my relationship with all of them. I hope I can express appreciation for their continued presence in my life.
Its winter…. go slow…go inward. And listen to the “Sound of Silence”