Quiet! We're Walking!

Those who often find themselves in nature know this.

Silence nourishes.

Surrounding yourself with nature and silence helps reduce stress and anxiety. Finding ways to have periods of silence helps your brain function better and allows your body to rebuild itself more effectively.

Walking silently in nature is, for many people, the only effective activity to maintain balance in a world filled with stress and inconsistencies. For many people, finding themselves in nature in silence as often as possible is a matter of survival.

So when disrespectful hikers come to profane the silence that inhabits our sanctuary of peace, it makes us want to break the silence ourselves... and all sorts of other things too!

Silence is relative

But here's the thing. For many other people, silence is embarrassing. It's like a pebble in your shoe or a hair on your tongue - you don't really know how it got there, and you don't really know what to do with it.

Because silence confronts us. Silence pushes us to compare ourselves, to evaluate everything in order to judge better. Yet the emptiness of silence is only the echo of an emptiness within ourselves. And when this Self is suffering, the echo of silence can become unbearable torture.

Whether we're nature hiking enthusiasts or not, we all have ways of managing the discomfort caused by silence. Some people can't help but talk. They maintain an incessant monologue to validate this image of themselves that they know is incomplete.

Sometimes, these people maintain this monologue in their heads and aren't even aware they're doing it!

Others have the reflex to turn on the TV, radio, or computer (and often all three at once) as soon as they feel emptiness around them.

Some become anxious when their schedule is empty and there's nothing planned. The coming silence sounds like an alarm system in their mind, perhaps because they haven't met themselves yet...

Silence doesn't exist

Yet silence is an illusion. In the woods, 500 meters underground, or even in space, there's always a perceptible sound somewhere. The sound of our breathing, for example.

Of course, some sounds are more intense than others. We can't deny the approaching storm, just as we can assess the danger of a torrent by the intensity of the sound it produces. We deduce that danger is approaching when our dog barks, and we suspect we'll be spending the night on the couch when our partner yells at us.

You might as well get used to the idea right away. Sounds have existed for millennia and they're here to stay. Sounds bear witness to life in motion. They are the cornerstone of our survival and evolution - the universe was even born from a sound...

Sounds inform us about the characteristics of the world around us. They warn us of dangers, they tell us where resources are located, and they transmit signals about the emotional state of those around us.

Sounds are born from our own experience. They compose the most beautiful melodies when we open ourselves to their message. But if there's no one to hear them, sounds have no reason to exist. Sounds exist to allow all living species to coexist.

Sounds serve to communicate

While the rules of language sometimes seem complicated to us, the fact remains that basically, a word, a sentence, or a text are just amalgamations of sounds. Intelligent language was invented to better communicate in a universe where the need to control nature grows every day.

If communicating has become so complex, it's perhaps because we've gotten a bit too lost in the meanders of our rational brain. Humans felt the need to name everything around them to convince themselves they were above everything, outside of nature.

Will this whole adventure have been worth it?

The more words we create, the more ways we invent to communicate, the further we move away from what is at the origin of communication.

Because basically, sounds are vibrations. Above all, they are felt before they can be used to interpret. All the answers we need are there, somewhere encoded in our DNA. We just need to know how to listen.

The better we listen, the better we hear

Instead of seeking silence by controlling the sounds that reach us, we should simply learn to better decode the messages our body sends us.

First, listen to our emotions. Give them the place they deserve and satisfy the need they announce. Listen to our sensations. Drink when we feel thirsty, sleep when we're sleepy. Satisfy our curiosity about the elements of the world around us.

Once our fundamental needs are met by our own means, perhaps we'll be able to better understand the needs of those we cohabit with? By recognizing what constitutes our essence, perhaps we'll be better equipped to socialize and learn from others?

Because not all the sounds we hear are necessarily addressed to us. The sounds that concern us are those that respond to our intention of the moment.

Silence is a state of mind

Silence is a matter of perspective. Our thoughts shape our universe. Our thoughts pull us toward the past and future and are very little oriented toward our needs of the moment.

The more we learn to listen to the heart, the easier it becomes to silence our minds. Silence is a state of mind more than the abstraction of ambient sounds.

Cultivating gratitude

Let ourselves be carried by the vibration of sounds. Let them exist as they are. Let's listen to the message of our heart and no sound will ever be able to disturb us again.

Let's focus on what we want to create in the moment. Because the true gift of silence, the one acquired through the peace it can provide when we walk in nature or elsewhere, is acquired through practice and gratitude.

Gratitude for the thunder that rumbles and warns us that it's better to find shelter.

Gratitude for the child who cries out their joy, because they have so few opportunities to express it that it overflows when they no longer perceive boundaries.

Gratitude for the birdsong that cradles our soul with such gentleness.

Gratitude for this teenager playing their music at full volume, giving me the opportunity to share my passion for the virtues of silence with them in harmony.

Gratitude for the sound of the stream that allows me to quench my thirst.

Gratitude for this group of tourists chatting a bit loudly, pushing me to explore less frequented trails that I wouldn't have discovered otherwise.

Gratitude opens us to the world.

The more grateful we are for what we have, the easier it will be to find silence within us, regardless of whether we're in the woods or at a rock concert.

Because silence is not only found in nature, it is our nature...

Like that of everyone who crosses our path.