30 Minutes of Silence

When I initially heard this assignment, I was somewhat skeptical. I thought to myself, what could I possible hear in the thirty minutes of nothingness? The first five minutes passed by slowly, as I was unable to obtain any sort of idea of what I was listening for or to.

But then, I began to quiet my mind and really focus on the world around me. Crickets constantly chirping gave me a good rhythm to start things out. As I listened more closely, the sound of cars rolling by slowed everything down and I pictured a relaxing summer evening on my porch, even though I was sitting in my apartment up on the fifth floor. Then my refrigerator clicked and began to work quite noisily and fervently, thus offsetting the unwavering crickets. Dishes being clattered and my roommates socializing drew my attention away from the other sounds momentarily, but a loud car horn from an undoubtedly frustrated driver brought my attention back and I again listened to all of my surroundings.

Each sound we hear everyday forms a simple backdrop in our lives. Happening on a constant basis, we don't even bother to take them in or quantify them. There are sounds all around us, we just have to listen. I think it speaks to the constant busyness of our lives, and we just need to slow down, take a deep breath, and that will make all the smaller things come in to focus.