16 Apr 2015
12 CommentsAre You Prepared For Silence?
We live in a very noisy world. TV, radio, video games, ear buds in the ears playing music or audio books some sort of manufactured noise is usually going on around us. This noise allows for your mind to stay distracted, sometimes to the point of avoiding meaningful deep thought, that of things you might want to avoid. But what happens when the power goes out and all you have left is silence?
Have you ever just sat in your home in total silence? No TV, music, games, kids weren’t home, maybe even your spouse is away. Try it, turn everything off and just sit in silence for a while, see how long you can do it.
Sure, you are prepared for a disaster with food, water, weapons, etc., but how many of you are prepared for silence? Living in silence is something that must be practiced, just like exercise, you don’t get in shape by sitting on the couch with plans of being able to run a couple of miles when you are in trouble, no you exercise and practice, you get in physical shape.
Learning to live in silence is no different, it is something that you have to practice. It takes time and practice to learn and be able to live quietly inside your own thoughts. Think about this, if living in silence was such an easy thing to do, why would they put prisoners into solitaire confinement? They do it because it is punishment. It isn’t easy or pleasant for most people to be alone with their thoughts.
We were designed to be social creatures, to interact with others. In the absence of that we have learned to fill the void with artificial interaction and noise, that noise could also be in the form of being on the internet on some social media site, for that human interaction, the TV or other man made distractions.
Here is a challenge, another form of prepping if you will. Begin to practice being alone with your thoughts, just sitting in silence.
Turn off the TV, radio and video games. Take the ear buds out of your ears and even turn off the internet. Just be alone, with yourself in silence, you just may find it isn’t as easy as you think.
Start with being in silence for 15 minutes, then 30. Increase it to an hour and continue to increase that silent time until you have a full day in silence. Take that silent time to talk with your creator. Build a relationship with Christ, when it all hits the fan, you will have only HIM to rely on, to talk to, to reach up to for strength, this can’t happen overnight, it take practice and time to build a relationship, to know HIS still quiet voice that you can only hear in silence, in the time you have with just you, your thoughts and prayers.
Sure, there will be some that roll their eyes, but remember the old saying, there are no atheists in a fox hole? The same will hold true in a long lasting disaster, there will be many who will not be able to cope without the normal daily distractions, you don’t want to be one of them. Plus, by leaning to live in silence now and building your relationship with Christ, you will be in a solid position to help those who didn’t prepare for the silence.
December 23, 2014 @ 8:12 am
I sit in silence a lot–i’m way out in the boonies -loosing my hearing, more each day I feel. There is little traffic, used to be cattle across the road, and east of me across the creek they are all gone- it’s rare to even have a stray dog chasing Deer ,but yesterday there were (2) down in the woods—the Deer got away.
I really don’t watch much TV. radio signals are very weak in the valley I am in.so silence is Golden to me.
sometimes a chain saw in the distance.
keeb
December 23, 2014 @ 11:15 am
Hi Keebler, You are a treasure, thank you for your thoughts. It sure sounds like you are prepared and practice the silence. God Bless you and have a Merry Christmas!!! 🙂
December 23, 2014 @ 8:38 am
You have hit upon the most important part of prepping: MENTAL PREPARATION However few will do it. A large percentage of preppers, no matter how well stocked they are, will panic when they realize they are alone in silence. If they would just take your advice this could be avoided, and the great news is that it cost absolutely nothing to practice. thanks and God bless.
December 23, 2014 @ 11:10 am
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts – so much about survival is mental preparation I pray we are all ready or preparing in that way. 🙂
December 23, 2014 @ 8:39 am
You’re quite right. The deep silence can be disconcerting for those constantly steeped in multi-layered background tracks of noise (TV/radio/iPod on all the time). During our occasional ice storms and outages, it’s still a bit surprising how totally silent a house can be without even a refrigerator hum or the soft whir of a motor turning timer somewhere.
On the plus side, such quiet allows you to hear a car coming down the road, well before getting close to the house, or ‘strange’ noises outside.
And, you’re quite right that such quiet is a good time to contemplate that we are NOT in control of the Universe, but someone else is. Of course, there are plenty of people who don’t like the idea that there’s a God out there, so naturally don’t WANT things quiet enough to hear a small still voice. I suppose it’s an adaptation of John 3:19. Men love the noise, rather than the quiet, for they fear hearing from God.
December 23, 2014 @ 11:13 am
Hi Mic, you are correct, even I took for granted the hum of an appliance. Most just don’t realize that silence can be deafening. Another good point you bring up is that in silence, you can hear the things that go “bump” in the night much better and puts you on better alert. Thank you so much for your thoughts and insight on John 3:19. May God Bless you and Have a very Merry Christmas! 🙂
December 23, 2014 @ 8:40 am
We attempted to vote for you, but the voting process is extremely complicated, so we abandoned the LINK and returned to ask you or whoever is in charge to simplify this process. Thanks and God bless.
December 23, 2014 @ 11:08 am
Hi Plowboy, If you are referring to the “vote for me” box on the right hand side of the page, by clicking that link it takes you to a second page with a “click here to enter” link, once you click that link, you vote is cast. Thank you so much for stopping by, commenting and voting. Merry Christmas and God Bless you!!! 🙂
December 23, 2014 @ 11:57 am
Silence is a very interesting concept. I embrace silence in many ways.
As a person who is bombarded 12 hours a day through the internet, TV, and employees I can’t wait to get home in the evening. My quiet part of the world is a stress reliever where I can read my kindle ( with the TV off ) or mess around in the garden or fool around with a never ending amount of projects that I keep myself busy with.
I often find myself running deep and silent and that provides me time to meditate and pray which always seems to clarify my mind and recharge my internal batteries.
I live a bout 2 miles away from a major freeway and love it when there is a heavy snow the heavy truck traffic goes to zero Db’s and it is super quiet. I look forward to the snow for that reason.
Silence can also be used as a tool. In my biz I have to interface with a lot of persons daily and my Dad taught me a useful lesson many years ago. He said that to solve problems you need to ask the right questions. Ask the question then SHUT UP and listen! You might have to ask the same question from a couple of angles of attack if you’re not getting the info you need, but still, ask the question and shut up! People these days like to fill up the surrounding atmosphere with all kinds of chatter and BS because they are so used to a noisy environment and are uncomfortable without white noise cluttering the environment. When I ask a question and go silent I learn more about what is motivating or concerning the person i’m talking to they get uncomfortable and spout all kinds information. I realize that this sounds manipulative to many but silence is just another tool that I use in business.
Have you ever had a person you connected with and have those long companionable silences where there is nothing to say? I really dig those moments. Both person’s comfortable with the silence between them. My grandparents were like that, they communicated on a different level and didn’t have to argue or chat incessantly.
Two of my best friends are very quiet by nature. We can sit on my back porch on a warm day and not speak a word for long pauses at a time.
Silence IS golden! Silence is my life raft in this never ending noisy life we have to live.
Merry Christmas to all!
Time to go investigate what the dog is barking at and finish my Xmas shopping at 7-11.
Best
Snake Plisken
April 24, 2015 @ 2:38 pm
Good advice! I am at home a lot, slowly becoming an empty nester. I am an Asperger which means I abhor noise and crowds, but even so I need at least a little radio most days, hopefully I will have a shortwave with a solar charger even in a crisis. They are useful for communication as well. but yeah, you make a good point. God bless
February 4, 2018 @ 1:16 pm
I just stumbled across this article while looking at some prepping stuff. I think that of all the prepping info/advice that I have seen/reviewed, this is the most profound advise/suggestion that I have seen. Without Christ in your life and plans you are already lost, if not dead. Thank you for reminding us of the importance of making time to spend time with Him.
February 4, 2018 @ 1:21 pm
Hi Bob, thanks so much for your comment. It is true, regardless of how much prepping we do, if we are not prepared for eternal life, any preps we do for this earth are all in vain. God Bless you!