Listening for silence

In this age of cell phones and cable TV and computers and MP3 players and streaming...EVERYTHING, a moment of peace and quiet comes at a premium, even when we can choose that moment.  Yesterday, I headed out the door to class, and just before I left, I heard it...SILENCE, well except for the random chirp of a bird or soft automatic buzz of something electric.  I paused and added my brain's grinding gears to the low-volume mix.  I've always been an "I have to have the TV on" sort of gal, but even in that brief moment, I felt a most amazing calming effect, and I lingered to let it wash over me.  Melodramatic?  I think not.  My life is way less hectic than it used to be, but I remember the mad dash all too well.  Heck, I still LOVE it and even need it.  Without moving and shaking and getting things done, we'd be in major trouble.  Nonetheless, perhaps taking a time out purposely now and then would refresh our spirits and make that moving and shaking even more productive and oh my, less stressful.  The beauty is it costs nothing, and the opportunities lie all about us if we're aware.  Ah, but there's the rub, as The Bard might say.  Ironically enough, all the noise around us obscures those precious points of possible pleasure.  Guess we'll have to FIND them, right?  If nothing else, start with that moment you shut down to leave the house for any reason.  Before you step out the door, stop and listen and enjoy what you don't hear and what you do feel.  As the old ad used to encourage, "Try it.  You'll like it."