THE POWER OF QUIET.. is quite remarkable!

 "Quiet is peace. Tranquillity. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it.”

The words of Khaled Hosseini are running through my mind and reverberating repeatedly.. and I find my mental space to be chaotic and calm at the same time.. Sounds strange right? It IS.. strange.. and very strange at that..

I am at present on holiday in Manali.. actually at a resort about 22 kms from Manali proper.. It is a beautiful place.. clean green and serene.. There is greenery and mountains surrounding me and all that I hear is the chirping of the birds.. Coming from Mumbai where I live smack bang across the incredibly busy railway tracks, the absolute silence and quietude was slightly unnerving for me for the first couple of hours.. Slowly I got accustomed to it.. liking it.. loving it and now the thought of going back to dhamaal and noise almost frightens me!  

Quiet IS peace and tranquillity.. to some people and something very different to others.. Quiet is an end in itself and a refuge and haven to harrowed and stressed out city dealers like myself.. it is a standard and normal way of life to mountain dwellers.. but can be a difficult thing to handle for people who are used to constant phone calls.. face to face interactions.. and too much of chatter.and action all the time.. 

Quiet can be a dangerous and intimidating thing to people going through depression.. they want to reach out and perhaps share their thoughts and feelings.. communicate them to others.. but are trapped by their inability to find the words to express themselves.. or by the lack of confidence and thought that maybe nobody cares enough to listen.. and THAT sort of quiet can be deafening in itself..

Quiet can be a comfortable place and feeling to be.. as long as you're at peace with yourself! If you're surrounded by silence and constantly wondering what your friends, family, children, colleagues and neighbours are doing.. or lamenting the fact that you're "missing out" then the quiet is something you have to befriend.. 

Is that difficult to do? It used to be for me.. I was a hyper person who constantly needed to be DOING something! My calendar for the day HAD to include an outing somewhere.. meeting friends.. running errands.. going to gym or to swim.. I never WANTED to be quiet.. BY myself.. or WITH myself! When the realization struck me that it's essential to be my own best friend.. and that could only happen when I started analyzing my flaws.. working on myself to change them.. growing to like myself.. and then love myself..

Personal growth is a natural byproduct of being quiet.. because it is only when we are ready to face our "demons" of ego greed temper etc.. that we are willing to ask ourselves the hard questions that we need to! The quiet gives us the confidence to ask ourselves the questions.. the courage to answer them honestly.. and the strength to work on becoming better versions of ourselves! 

The quiet gives us the peaceful space we need to connect with our soul.. and understand how to proceed and progress on our soul journey.. those things can never happen in the madness of "real life" with all our responsibilities on the personal professional financial emotional and social fronts!

In the last five days it is imperative to share what being quiet in the quiet has done for me.. it has made my prayers purer.. my faith stronger.. my thinking clearer and my sense of self much more complete.. I would strongly recommend that everyone who can MUST take out some time to be WITH the quiet and IN the quiet.. be it in your own home.. in the mountains.. near the sea.. but do tey and make it happen.. The rewards of doing absolutely nothing and simply "just being" are precious and unimaginably generous! 

Wishing you quiet today and always.. in your mind.. heart.. body.. and above all.. in your soul.. 

Be quiet and be blessed..