My first failed attempt at not speaking during this week’s day of silence was yelling at the dog to SHUT IT! (If there is a God, I wonder if God is saying the same thing to me? “Marshall! SHUT IT!” I sure hope God has a Scottish accent and sounds like Mike Meyers in So I Married An Axe Murderer.)
I don’t want people thinking that I’m an animal yeller, but my 110 pound Great Pyrenees requires a dominant master otherwise this breed will walk all over you – literally. So if he doesn’t get a strong reaction IMMEDIATELY to his tendency to be set off at the slightest thing, he’ll continue to lose his mind just because a squirrel ran across the street, four blocks away.
I only slipped three times today. Once I said one word and twice I said three words!
However, the good news is that my potty thoughts are down!
I didn’t swear under my breath even once yesterday. I wonder what that means? Because last week… well there was a whole bunch of #$@!&*?!
Someone asked me if texting was allowed, which got me thinking… what’s allowed and what isn’t? What’s the difference between not talking and not communicating?
Can I laugh? How about whistling? Can I grunt to get someone’s attention or when I’m at the gym? Are silent burps permitted? What about nodding in agreement and saying “uh-huh” if my lips are closed? (I guess that would be “mm-mmm”)
I went out for dinner. Pretty sure the waitress thought I was a real snob. Or she thought I was “special” because, well… I might have overcompensated a tad for not being able to talk by smiling wayyyy too much. Kind of like those idiots from Dumb & Dumber!
The first day I went silent, when I thought of something I wanted to communicate, I decided that it wasn’t worth the hassle trying to communicate it. Yesterday, I found myself actually trying to communicate more and guess what? It was a hassle! What a pain! The upside is that I am becoming THE BEST charades partner ever! (Or I’ve developed Tourettes in a week.)
Spiritual benefit during my first day of silence = 0
BUT I can totally see how practising silence will eventually help me get to a place where being silent might actually benefit my soul. I just need to use these practice days of silence over the next 6 months to get used to the silence and then, hopefully, silence will become a soul healer as opposed to something I hyper-focus on.
I do like waking up the next day and saying “Good Morning” to myself… because I can.