Silence: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Silence occurs across a spectrum, like so much else in reality, still it might be helpful to categorize three arenas of silence that we encounter in our lives.

The Good: Ahh...the precious solace of a quiet moment outdoors away from it all, the comfortable time of hanging out with someone between shared words, the peacefulness of a smile while sleeping. Our lives are patched together with so much busyness sometimes, our minds savor these times of tranquility.

The Bad: Shhh....then, there are the silences which radiate awkwardness.  The times we choke on sharing our thoughts with a friend or when we are intrigued by a stranger and instinctive inhibition keeps us from starting a conversation. At these times we can search inside ourselves for wit and gentleness to inspire worthy conversation.

The Ugly: Aughh!!!!  and finally there is that devastating arena of silence that can arise after we lose someone to death or, perhaps even worse, through abandonment.  When our heart is screaming and we stay silent, few things challenge us more.   One path to handling such deathly silence is to gather what courage we can and seek sincere dialogue with a good friend.

Feel free to share how you generally seek out good silences in your life while leaving bad and ugly silences behind?