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Quiet Space: please share your ideas on how we manage this in our busy lives?
Adelaide is currently very busy with its festival season and as a result someone has started a sharing of "QuietSpaces"? Feel this is a great idea and thought to share it here.
People are posting pictures or descriptions of their quiet place when they need a break from the busyness of the city or their life. This city in particular has some really delightful green spaces but interestingly people are also nominating small alleyways, etc. this will give the local council some more ideas about how to make these currently dark and dingy places more attractive to users.
Let's join in and share our ideas for a "Quiet Space"? Am sure we can come up with some very creative ideas ...
Eg switch all gadgets off for ten minutes, etc
Kate Blake 50+
Please share your idea of a quiet space ....?
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Kate Blake 50+
greg dahlen 20+
Kate Blake 50+
Random Chance 30+
When I was young, I would go outside in the evening, especially when there was no moon.
I would stick my arm and hand straight out in front of me. Being only a child, my arm wasn't that long
but, I could not see my hand. This always made me fall silent.
Same with the Milky Way. Looking at it, seeing the curve of its outer edge, so many stars, so amazing and being so awe-struck, I would fall silent and just stare in wonder. Or is it stare and wonder?
Silence is something I really enjoyed listening to. Hearing sounds that were from outside me instead of all the ones that came to live in me. So I have wanted for a long time to have the world shut off most lights for the two days per month when there is no moon. That of course will vary from hemisphere to hemisphere, and let people simply watch in silence and awe at what is always around us.
I find silence by getting up very early in the morning, when most everyone else is still asleep or somewhere else or hasn't returned yet. In my tiny space, the world, the day is mine again. That is when I think, write, meditate, imagine, dream, remember and so on. It is untouched by anyone, any responsibility, any demands, expectations and is one thing that feels like it has remained somewhat pure to my memories. The ones I have deep within me that may go with me.
Sitting in nature, listening, and separating what is inside noise from outside noise is a great way to become aware of value. I am always pointing out color, flowers, scenery, sunsets or sunrises and so on to others but most simply ignore me and it seems don't think those things are of value. They usually quickly brush it off, so I can only assume, well not for certain but I do assume, they are very noisy inside.
There must be some quiet, dark places in Australia, yes? I was looking at a map of Australia just yesterday. It was a map, done in fun, as to how others see your country. In the middle was a large word -NOTHING.
What a wonderful thing to preserve.
Mary M. 50+
http://www.ted.com/talks/lucianne_walkowicz_look_up_for_a_change.html
I was moved to comment on it and state that "wouldn't it be great if all the lights were turned off at the same time, even for a few minutes only, to look up".
I did not get to see the Milky Way until I was in my 30's. It was a moment I will never forget. I just couldn't help looking up into it.......I wonder if seeing our universe "on top of us" "outside of us" "all around us" would have a life changing effect on humanity.
Our Universe........the ultimate quiet "space" IMHO.....
Kate Blake 50+
Night skies, as a kid we had a very busy full-on household, and my escape was to wander into the backyard after midnight and sit on the old car seat we had there and star gaze. Remember when I first star gazed in the northern hemisphere and found the constellations so different - that was so exciting and awesome.
Fortunately I've been blessed with living in that outback (nothing), the Himalayas, and various other places with very few lights and so almost unlimited view of the night skies. Have experienced meteorite rains, falling stars and all sorts of universal wonders. Does make us and our world seem so small and insignificant.
Must say I really love blackness, complete and total darkness and the only place I've experienced this is in my hours of caving. It is so dark down there and everyone to turn their lamps off and just let that complete silent solitude envelope us. Magic!
Yes, early morning is also my preferred time, a quiet space while the world is still sleeping, best time for contemplation! And that Nothing, or outback as we call it, is just magic, far more than nothing and the people are the real salt of the earth.
Sadly that is where US houses it's main bases, tracking stations, spying, etc. Why endanger your own people if we are foolish enough to house US main bases here?
Random Chance 30+
Your comments reminded me of a book I used to have. It contained pictures and comments from astronauts around the world. From various countries, male and female, and their thoughts, feelings, emotions and experiences of looking at earth from above.
The one I wish to relate to you is as follows.
Several astronauts were working outside the shuttle, the sun was either blocked by earth or they were on the dark side of the shuttle. I don't remember.
Anyway, as the batteries on their flashlights were running down and steadily dimming, they decided to call it a day and go back inside. Before they did, they decided to gaze out at the stars and check their bearings.
So, with the flashlights off, they turned and looked out into space.
Well, it was so black, that it seemed like it was pulsing and staring back at them. It was overwhelmingly deep, surrounding them and seemed alive. Here is where my eyes got wide.
They said it was so overwhelming that fear quickly began taking over. Their hair was standing, chills running up their spines and it became too much to handle.
Fortunately, one of them said, "now that's what I call dark," and it broke the spell of fear long enough to get back inside the shuttle.
There is a tremendous amount of light in the universe but it cannot be seen in space as it needs something to reflect off of in order to be seen or rather what it is reflecting. Something like that.
I have experienced, when much younger, that darkness looking at me as though it were an actual living being of some sort.
After all, before the big bang, there was nothing and nothing could only be blackness.
A blackness that is the complete absorption of all light, So the re-absorption of all light might be where it all returns to. Who knows?
Gail . 50+
You don't need to go to a green space to find the quiet within.
adesh saxena
Kate Blake 50+
adesh saxena
Kate Blake 50+
Pabitra Mukhopadhyay 30+
My quiet space is my early morning walk along my property which is a part of an upcoming township. There is a railway line by it's side and a good expanse of a natural garden completely desolate at the early hours of the day. I love to walk down a trail and watch birds while slowly the villages come alive on a fresh new day.
This is ironic in a city notorious for its din and bustle.
Kate Blake 50+
Pabitra Mukhopadhyay 30+
george lockwood 20+
My quiet place - self-hypnosis and autogenic training.
Kate Blake 50+
Learning both relaxation and awareness of body and mind. Brings huge benefits, everyone should seriously try it for a while and if it helps make it a daily ritual.
Mary M. 50+
If you are able to get ahold of it you'll enjoy it.
Here are a few lines from it..
.....Now and then, you need
a special someplace
you can go when life
gets too intense--
-- Maybe it's a hideaway you go to--
a comfy nook, a beach,
a wooden glen--
Or maybe it's just somewhere
you imagine,
and travel to in memory
now and then.
We have quiet spaces around our city.
Many neighborhoods put benches in shady areas, and also walking paths for the residents to take leisurely strolls.
Kate Blake 50+
Your comment reminded me of the trains - here in Australia the last carriage is the 'quiet' one. So those who want to chat to each other or on their mobiles, play music, etc are not to enter this carriage. A very public quiet space on most trains. In India the first carriage was a ladies only carriage, also great idea as more young women there exercise their freedom to travel without male escorts.
Mary M. 50+
We have trains here....well two. One in the county south of us. It rides above the city. It's nice to ride it and stare out the window, in silence.
I have seen the trains in India, can't imagine much quiet in them. It's nice that there is a lady's carriage. Can't imagine ladies riding with the rest of the crowd.
I remember once riding into Tokyo, and the train was so quiet, that I fell asleep.
Funny thing is, Japanese culture does not allow for someone to suffer embarassment.
So rather than wake me up, everyone walked out of the train at the last stop and left me there....
Yup!! What woke me up finally?..................The intense silence.........I was literally alone in a station, underground....and noone was around.....no sounds at all, the ultimate quiet space....it was kind of scary. Never did fall asleep on the trains again. :D
Kate Blake 50+
Mary M. 50+
In Japan the story went that in order to show your loyalty to your friends, a man must be willing to get drunk with them.
Trouble is, that same drunk man has to ride the train home.
So many times he would fall asleep on someone else's shoulders.
I learned to always be on the look out for tipsy individuals, and if one sat next to me, I would discreetly find a way to move.
We have a show here called the "Amazing Race". Teams of two race around the world and compete in various challenges. Sometimes they will show the trains and transportation systems of various countries. It is so interesting to see the conditions under which individuals travel.
Here most of us use our own cars.
Makes for alot of noise, especially if there are car alarms, which could totally ruin a person's quiet time early in the morning ;)
Kate Blake 50+
Mary M. 50+
Have suitcase.....will travel.
The world keeps on calling, and I'm anxious to get out there again.....to find the quiet spaces around the globe. :)
We were having a conversation the other day amongst friends and we decided that we definitely wanted to visit each of the seven continents.
In the meantime it's nice to be able to talk to individuals from around the world in the comfort and quietness of our own home huh Kate?
Kate Blake 50+
But I not only travelled extensively I have also lived in two other countries long term and am immensely happy to be back on home soil. Everything that happens is a learning experience, an opportunity to grow but now it's time for me to turn more inward - to find that quiet space within!
greg dahlen 20+
Kate Blake 50+
Is there a quiet space in your neighborhood?
greg dahlen 20+
Kate Blake 50+
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Access to quiet spaces is quite different depending on where you live and the nature of the space where you live/work/sleep.Those living close to parks, beaches, and open spaces and those who live in quiet urban enclaves have different options than many of the residents of some central cities.
Kate Blake 50+
Where is your quiet space or comfort zone Fritzie?
Fritzie Reisner 100+
I also have a favorite spot in the house.
Kate Blake 50+
george lockwood 20+
Kate Blake 50+
What do you do George to make a quiet space?
A walk on the beach is one of my favorites.