Part of my Tour o' the South trip included a silent retreat. Yes, silent. Me, silent. It's a bit unbelievable, I agree.
I read an article in Whole Living magazine last fall about the Abbey of Gethsemani that I found interesting. I pulled it out and tucked it away somewhere. But every day the article was in my mind and finally I did some research. Book months in advance. Total silence. 3:15am prayers with the trappist monks. No phone. Kentucky. All very interesting. Then without totally thinking about it, the retreat was booked and I was suddenly on the verge of days of silence.
In preparation, I took up meditating and set my alarm for 3am so my body was used to getting up so early. The silence, I wasn't so afraid. Living by yourself has those advantages. I usually go hours in the morning without saying a word until I get to work. But days? That was something I was weary of. And going offline was something that terrified me. But offline & silence went hand-in-hand.
The result? Well, my experience is hard to put into words, even still a full two weeks after the fact. It was personal, yet I feel like if I speak of it then it would be something that someone else experienced too. What I will share are some photos, maybe those will translate into something. And if anything, then my "self-photo" (which I normally hate taking and excuse the no makeup) will at least speak of the extreme contentment I had in those days of silence.
