Fall Days and Silence – Comic Book Day, Johnny Appleseed Day, Equinox

In our part of the country, we still have some summer weather staying around, with temperatures in the 80’s during the day. This week, with a prediction of rain, there are more hints that eventually fall will find its way here. The days are also shorter and there are tiny splashes of colors in the trees. In other ways, life is slowing down, although children and teachers who have returned to school may not feel that way. It’s not quite time for winter to fill our days, but it feels closer.

With the change in season, there comes a change in the sounds outside. There is less noise from fans and air conditioners and more times of quiet. I noticed the quiet the other morning, with a  distinct lack of humming from electrical machinery. Yesterday evening, I walked in quiet while I watered plants and looked over our yard. I was reminded of summers at my grandmothers, as a water spray generated a tiny breeze while I watered the garden. The only sound was the sizzle/fizzle of drops of water falling on the plants and ground. No other breeze then the one I made while the water flowed out of the hose. A few birds chirped as they found their way to a nest before evening fell.

The world seems noisier than it did when I was growing up or perhaps as I get older I notice more of the noise. I do know that people seem to have a need for filling the silence, with music, or machines, or other things blocking out the quiet.  I do this too, trying to block out other noises by by wearing headphones or running a fan for white noise.
And sometimes I use the noise to distract myself from an activity that I don’t want to do or problems I need to work on. By creating noise, a distraction, it allows my brain to keep away from things I need or want to do.

Now that I’ve recognized this habit, I am working on way to put aside my noisy distractions. Noise isn’t the way I try to shift my focus, just one that’s easier to disguise as a way to keep a possibly unpleasant future at a comfortable distance. Putting aside the interruptions means I have to be with just myself and sometimes that’s not easy. I’ve started a hand written journal this week, as a tool to look over my thoughts and actions and honor them instead of trying to cover them up.  Writing in the journal seems to help, I’m glad I remembered about this tool.

I hope fall is going well for everyone and that you find a moment of quiet and a chance to seek peace instead of chaos. I’m enjoying a break in some of my chaos and the peaceful moments when they appear.

Pictures by J.T. Harpster