So here’s my story: I’m sick again.  A sinus infection in January.  A 2+ week cold in March. And now, starting on April Fool’s Day, a new virus that comes with laryngitis, a cough, and a fever.  I went to the doctor yesterday, and was told that resting my voice was imperative to getting better.  Whispering is even worse than talking because it strains the throat muscles. So in other words, shhhhh.

I immediately started spiraling into negative, feeling-sorry-for-myself territory.  But then I stopped and asked myself, “How are you making today more positive?”  I decided that somewhere in this prescribed silence is a gift.

This video from the fabulous Elizabeth Gilbert really speaks to the spiritual power of silence. She calls shutting outside voices down “the fundamental beginnings of divinity,” and while I can’t claim to aspire to such heights in between doses of antihistamine, cough medicine, and Tylenol, it is a beautiful possibility and a meaningful thing to search for.

What’s your relationship with silence?  Do you dread it, wrestle with it, embrace it, look forward to it?