The Beauty of Silence @Mount Rainier

October, the changing colors.

Listening to quiet. That’s how I felt solo hiking Mount Rainier National Park; Skyline, 6.2 miles. I started to wonder if the wind was considered sound; the soft rustling off the leaves, the water rushing over the rocks and the chipmunks running around. My awareness increased and I perceived newer sounds. Classical music in the wild, lets call it that way.

“I have, as it were, my own sun and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself”, Henry David Thoreau.

Have you ever noticed how our society is so uncomfortable with silence? Have you ever stopped to wonder why there is constant a need to find a distraction? Freud called it resistance. Resistance is an unconscious emotional state where an individual avoids the subjects they most need to face: unintended distractions are created to justify an action. For example, I can’t go the therapist because I have a busy schedule; in some way internal excuses account for not being able to do something.

Resistance ends up in repression. Repression is an unconscious defense mechanism where memories, thoughts and feelings are excluded from the conscious mind. In subsequent, those repressions head to the unconscious mind where they will manifest in dreams, slip of the tongues or physical responses.

Silence is scary, it counteracts with my resistance. Less resistance, more vulnerability. Silence makes me remember. Memories trigger emotions, emotions trigger feelings, feelings trigger a mood state.

Resistances will always be there, some will present in a conscious form and some will appear unconsciously. Can resistances be fully prevented? Not really, the ego is always trying to defend itself. As a matter of fact, every time the ego feels threatened, a bigger resistance will appear. To overcome resistances one must feel comfortable of being in silence, not being afraid of digging deeper. Mindfulness, breathing exercises, just “being” there, will always be some of the most helpful tools.

“What is common in all these dreams is obvious. They completely satisfy wishes excited during the day which remain unrealized. They are simply and undisguisedly realizations of wishes”, Sigmund Freud.

I stop for a moment and I become familiar of my current resistances. I acknowledge them and welcome them aboard. I sit for a moment I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I open my eyes again and I sit with the silence. My mind starts wondering about the meaning of silence and I immerse in the moment. I feel emotionally connected to the environment and to myself. Where are you? I am just here.

Half way @Panorama Point, 4.4 miles.

Sitting in silence.