Time Off From The Clamor

"Be quiet. 

Find acquaintances with silence. 

Go inside, delve into your heart. 

Take a day off from the clamor."

- Rumi

As a full time caregiver, I can't take a whole day off from the clamor, or from my special friend who knows all about silence.

But I do regularly take hours off from the clamor, and that time is precious to me.

I find lots and lots of the deep quiet I need when I go biking or hiking in the wilderness which spreads off on all directions around my home. 

Sometimes I go both biking and hiking on my excursions into the silence. I ride to an area, set my bike aside, and head off on foot.

"Other people have purpose;

I alone don't know.

I drift like a wave on the ocean,

I blow as aimless as the wind."

     

- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

I usually have no destination, or agenda, other than just being. 

In the woods.

I wander this way and that, and discover wonders along the way.

"Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it's dark." 

- Zen proverb 

During my time away from the clamor, I head into the heart of the woods, and when there, find my own heart waiting for me.

I step out of my shadow, and into the light. It is refreshing, sterilizing.

Everyone needs time off from the clamor. That stuff is exhausting.