Silence

Glenn McMann using Hand Sigil of Silence

There comes points in your life that you need some peaceful silence. That's one of the many beautiful things about being deaf. I can choose when to hear and when not to hear. I can proudly proclaim that I can mute the crying baby, screaming children, arguing adults, and silent nature itself. But only for my own ears.

When people learn that I'm deaf, they generally proclaim "I wish I were deaf sometimes" and that used to be something that would offend me. But then I was able to hear better than I've heard in over 22 years with assistive technologies of today. Now I understand what they mean.

Being deaf is a godsend. To be able to shut the outside world off and mute it. To be able to bask in the glory of silence, what silence I can have hearing voices (schizophrenia). All the same, it's just less stuff I have to deal with hearing, less of the world's many headaches to have to contend with unless I choose to.

Do you know what actual silence sounds like? Your brain naturally filters out much of the various noises in your life, the sound of your car engine, the sound of the humming A/C unit, the sound of your refrigerator, and the sound of your smoke detector's beep because it's on low battery, you filter it all out. Just like how you can see your nose but your brain filters it out of your vision so you don't realize you're seeing it.

You don't truly understand actual silence, but I will attest that what silence I can achieve, it's truly blissful. I love the sound of nothing. It's by far my favorite retreat.

Photo by Showbits

Put some ear plugs in, enjoy some silence and contemplate in your mind how peaceful the quiet can be. Just yourself and your thoughts with no interruptions. You can artificially be somewhat like me, you too can benefit from some peaceful silence. Take a sound break yourself.