The sound of silence
Learning to notice your heartbeat in the space between your thoughts.
The whispers come at dawn, when your pause holds its breath between darkness and light. They come in those precious moments before we don our day's costume, like children in a carnival hall of mirrors. Each reflection showing us what we strive to see – success, wealth, beauty and influence.
But these are merely distortions of light.
The true mirror, the one that actually shows us who we are, doesn't promise. It simply reflects. A reflection we avoid because its too stark. To loud in its silence.
We have become collectors of noise to counter this sound. We gather it like magpies gathering shiny objects, filling our nests with the glitter of distraction. Little digital orchestras scrolling endlessly like ticker tape through our fingers. Our digital screens painting our walls with imaginations led by algorithms that keep us entertained.
Yet wisdom, true wisdom, is like fog in a forest. It doesn't announce itself. It simply transforms the landscape of understanding, leaving everything draped in a new meaning. The most profound truths I've ever encountered came not from those who declared themselves wise, but from those who hadn't yet learned to doubt their own simplicity.
Consider how a master violinist tunes their instrument. They don't rely on the electronic tuner's authoritative beep. Instead, they listen for the subtle waves of resonance between strings, for that moment when two notes stop fighting each other and confluence. Our innermost truth has this same veneer – that one identity that makes all parts of us vibrate in harmony.
Ego is a talented street vendor, hawking its wares. "Buy this identity!" it shouts. "This opinion is on sale today!" Meanwhile, our deeper being sits like a mountain lake, reflecting truth in its stillness. To hear its wisdom, we must first learn to stop listening to the marketplace in our minds.
In this marketplace our surface feelings are like elements of barter – easy to spot, simple to exchange. But our soul's truth, that's the gold dust that settles at the bottom of the river. You have to sit quietly by the water, pan in hand, patient enough to let the silt wash away. You have to trust that beneath the rush and tumble of daily life, there's something precious waiting to be discovered.
Perhaps this is why children often speak with such startling clarity before we teach them to doubt their inner sanctity. Perhaps this is why the most profound insights come not when we're straining to understand, but in those empty moments when we've finally exhausted our mental chatter and surrendered to not knowing.
This is why poets stare at blank pages until words emerge like bubbles from the depths, while dancers close their eyes before their performance. They're tuning to that frequency that exists beneath thought, beneath social conditioning, beneath the very architecture of who we think we are. And once you learn to hear it, this voice becomes impossible to un-hear.
Like learning to notice your heartbeat in the space between your thoughts.
Not loud, never demanding, but present – a compass needle quietly pointing true north while the storms of daily life rage overhead, using noise to point toward silence, using movement to suggest stillness, using complexity to hint at simplicity.
In the end, wisdom and inspiration lies in finding that frequency. Not in the answers, but in the quality of our questions.
Not in the certainty, but in the delicate balance between reality and wonder.
About me:
I write ‘cos words are fun. More about me here. Follow @hackrlife on X or subscribe to my blog
Recommended Reads
Inner Inspiration - Cindy Masingill
Embracing Change and Finding Inner Peace: The Power of Your Self-Love - Harsh Jain
The Power of Inspiration: Igniting Your Inner Fire - Samra Gul
10 Ways On How To Find Your Inner Creativity - Sara Potler LaHayne
Creating an Inner Peace That Endures - Tiny Buddha
