Silence

Have you ever sat still enough to hear the crickets through a house window? Have you ever been in a crowd of people or with your friends, seemingly wanting to talk to you but never noticing you aren't saying a single word back? Can you imagine not speaking to anyone for every second of a twelve hour period? I have and I can tell you it is almost beyond words to describe to you the ... clarity I receive. The most obvious and generalized concept you learn from this speech fasting(yep it's a word) is that people aren't actually listening most of the time anyway. The second most result I found was that the cues given away to understand what someone really feels are derived from non-verbal language the best.

We enjoy talking, especially about ourselves. That doesn't have to translate into being a bad listener every time. It can signify that our lives really are more hectic and busy than ever before. Some of the results I found are as follows:  The other person(s) is assuaged with a mere nod of your head when asking one of those rhetorical questions, rather than insisting on real feedback which is an indicator of a good conversation or communication between two people. They might ask, as is the social etiquette, how you are doing and again, a small noise, smile or head nod, convinces them sufficiently they have done their duty in being a good and caring human being. Yes, these are my findings from this little social experiment but under no circumstances do I consider them negative or disheartening, merely another fascinating study of the human psyche.

Now let me speak on the significant value that this project has on me personally. Well, I am not exempt from the behaviors of a person described above so doing this forces me to be a good listener. It reminds me that there is so much to be found in what we don't say, in as much as we do. I am not only listening to what the people say around me, without my own verbal cues interfering but I am noticing body language, voice changes, etc. I don't think any of us, including myself ,are aware of the extent we give away in our facial movements, our body placements, the tone of our conversations. Perhaps we are all so used to not really listening to others that we rely on that fact in hiding our own emotions. Therefore we can convince people of whatever we want to about ourselves and keeping the scary, inside, squishy parts safe and alone. Personally, I don't want to be alone. I want to live among my fellow human beings. I was happy to do this so that I can get out of my own head and realize that we are all suffering because we can't see that we are all the same. The same people with our own set of fears, prejudices and habits.