Enjoy the Silence

Enjoy the Silence
January 15, 2012
By: Gina Yoryet Roman


I am biding my time as I hear the clock tick every millisecond. I watch the way my fingers create new words without a set direction, yet each of those words has a very profound significance as they will be another reached victory and purpose one day rather sooner than later.

Sometimes I go back and read my old posts and it is still hard for me to believe that it is really “Me” who has created those words. It’s been rather odd through my entire life to acknowledge myself for what I’ve accomplished because I am very critical towards myself and because whatever I do will never be good enough. And especially because during my youth I was NEVER one to think about what I’d become when I reached adulthood or much less one to set goals within a time frame.

Sometimes people ask how I can be so disciplined and they automatically assume that I grew up planning everything but they are far from the truth as I lived all my adolescence and early twenties like a vanishing feather flying up and about, a lost soul without a clear vision. When I tell them that I always inclined towards superficial and materialistic aspects without accomplishing anything other than “another” school or work week barely getting passing grades or enough money to get by, they always laugh skeptically.

My morals and values are much different than 15 years ago and my perspective now is that it is our duty as human beings to at some point grow out of the wrong actions and decisions we make earlier but sometimes it seems as if some don’t want to change for better.

That is one of the reasons why I now hold such high standards (“high standards” according to others) because that will lead me to the person I was meant to be and reach all my life’s victories.

People wonder, how I can manage getting up at 4:30am four or five days a week? How could I’ve stayed so loyal to my workouts after 16 years? How can I juggle the variety of projects; Teaching, Translating, Health and Fitness and Writing? (The latter I currently do as a hobby). How can I force myself to squeeze in and expect a little more of me every day, month and year?

Perhaps nothing is done at 100% perfection but I will always keep trying.
I’ve decided that the silent moments in my life would be the most productive ones as instead of choosing to be “sad and lonely,” I can use them to replenish my mind and soul.

Many people don’t manage solitude too well, they don’t appreciate that alone time we are given. Silence is indeed hard to find. Cities are notoriously noisy due to the high concentration of traffic and people. There seems to be no escape from loud music, loud machines and loud voices. But the kind of noise that endangers our spiritual well-being is not the noise we can’t escape but the noise we invite into our lives. Some of us use noise as a way of shutting out loneliness: voices of TV and radio personalities give us the illusion of companionship. Some of us use it as a way of shutting out our own thoughts. Other voices and opinions keep us from having to think for ourselves. Many of us do it to hide behind a mask or for many other reasons

My perspective to such behavior is that most of us are afraid to face and reach to our inner selves and strive for spiritual growth. There is an amazing documentary by Philip Gröning, “Into Great Silence,” released in 2005 in which has neither commentary sound effects added, consisting only of images and sounds of life in a monastery. This film should hold high praising and awards as that is what society has been in desperate need of.

There was also this inspiring phrase by singer Meg Hutchinson about this matter, “My next record should be 45 minutes of silence.” “Because that is what we’re missing most in society.”

And last by not least, there is “Enjoy the Silence,” by Depeche Mode that holds a very true verdict of such vain and empty society we have created.