When true connection happens- Silence speaks.
And yet so often, words are all I have. And they do take my breath away. Sometimes literally.
I am a big fan of irony. I write. And I often get tired of trying to express the un-expressable, through words. And yet at times, there is a quality of swirling mist around the spoken words which makes them easy to be absorbed by the skin and not just the mind.
Sometime back someone I met, Gyan Pandey uncle from Lucknow, and he said in the passing, “Shaabd patr ki supatrata ke anusar khulte hai” – Loose translation – Words (like flowers) open up in accordance to the readiness of the listener. You can hear something and then you can hear the same thing, or read the same thing after years, in a way that you let out a sigh – because it has taken your breath away.
Yesterday I met a couple of friends in a business context. They came home and we started to talk about what is our organizations vision, mission and strategy etc. and the conversation very quickly had a lot of words. And then suddenly I felt like using my Journey cards to ‘see and hear the unseen and unspoken’, that felt urgently nudging inside to come out. We each picked a card and then read. And then through a series of spontaneous sighs – silence wafted in..and graced our meeting – as a much needed and welcomed wise elder.
A lot like the peepal tree outside my house, which I imagine sometimes sighs, very insistently and audibly to get my attention to the present moment.
“When silence speaks it sounds like a Sigh”
I am, as many of you know, am a big sigher :). We express so much in that one sigh ..that cannot be expressed in many words. There is a felt connection with oneself and the other.
I am fascinated by what an exhaled breath can tell – the unknown expressed as unknown. And yet so much more becomes known if one is paying attention.
I ponder.. the life of a sigh...(while sighing)
-We sigh as a function of releasing ‘tension’ or difficult emotions, like pain, grief, frustration, anger -We sigh as a way of surrender. And also when we express inexplicable beauty, or moments of rapture and awe -Or sometimes the experience of the mystical which anyway cannot be expressed in words -and sometimes as a way perhaps of resonating and celebrating that unspoken unbridled swell of delicious joy or grief, for no known reason. We also sigh as a way of acknowledging the resonance of what was expressed, as lived truth – when we understand or feel understood. When we feel we need not try to express anymore with words.
I sometimes feel – We would die – if we didn’t or couldn’t sigh.
Maybe we notice and pay attention to the sigh more, in ourselves and others. The quality, the duration, the volume, the timing. And become curious about what may really going on. Few things are as telling as a sigh. It may even shed light on – ‘Who’ will Sigh – when you die. (sorry just couldn’t help it 🙂 )
Perhaps, we need to sigh more as we take in the deeper reality, in all her dark and light shades, the subtler emotions and drop into that sigh more.. And notice when people (or plants or animals) sigh ..and connect deeper with each other in that sigh as we are given, an honoured opportunity to witness the Unknown.
I am reminded of the first lockdown last year…when I felt the Earth heaved a collective Sigh..as the animals and trees got some respite and space, and were able to (rightfully) co-habit this earth.
Irony, That which takes our breath away..gives more life.
Sigh!!!…
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