Silence is Golden

On a grey saturday, somewhere in the back of a hospital, where it's old and quiet, some women and men come together. Ten o'clock in the morning.
 'Why the hell would they do that on their free saturday morning?!', I hear you think.
Well, to be silent.  It's Silent Day.

It was my first Silent Day. It being part of the Mindfulness Training.

Woke up at half past eight ('early!'), hurried to the bus ('why?') and missed it; the damn thing drove by too early! Had to wait for an hour. It was pretty cold and it started to rain. Irritation arose.
I decided to react differently, not on autopilot. And because I was all by myself at the bus stop, I started to do my morning exercises. ('Then I would have done that anyway'). The hour passed quickly!
After all, I turned out to be on time to get into the first meditation exercise. Then it was all day doing meditation exercises and some yoga. We were instructed not to speak to eachother until about three o'clock. I didn't had any difficulties with it, but when everyone was still silent during lunch, I must say it was a bit odd. Sometimes even a bit funny; I felt I had to laugh. ('Hm, who will take that last banana?', Keep your hands off that last cheese sandwich 'cos I'm vegetarian you know?!', 'Where are you walking to?', 'Why are you reading such a crappy magazine on such a day?') But after starting to eat and feeling comfortable in this silence, it was quite nice. Actually, this turned out to be a magnificent day! I felt at peace, I felt at home, I felt good.

At the end we talked a bit and I experienced it to be really nice to have a little contact with some others of the group; they have similar experiences and issues just like you do. I never expected to feel that recognition and comfort in a group. Afterwards, when me and another member of the training, drank some coffee together. I don't even know her name. ('She must have mentioned it in the first meeting, but I don't remember') But does it matter? We both had to wait quite a while on the bus to go back home, so we rewarded ourselves with apple pie and coffee. A nice ending of Silent Day. Up to the next!

Enjoy the silence!

With love, Shan