Silent night. It’s one of the songs that comes to mind now, right? Well, how about silence? Do you experience it?
It’s something that I often think of when thinking back to how Christmas used to be in Switzerland. When I think of the nights fresh snow was falling. Because snow absorbs sound it really gets more quiet. But it’s more than that. It’s the way snow falls as well. If it’s not wet snow the snowflakes float to the ground rather than falling, don’t think so? Everything seems to be almost put into a slow motion mode.
And I believe that it effects you too.
I remember how I could sit in the living room and gaze out the window, watching it snow. Even thinking of it makes me relax right now. And giggle.
Giggle because I just started thinking about the flip side of it. The shoveling (nope, I don’t miss it at all…) and the scratching off snow and ice from your car and so on. I was tempted to say that you would never get worked up on one of those days, when light snow falls. But I had to reconsider.
You probably would if you would know that it would most probably not end soon and that hours of shoveling would lay ahead of you.
It’s easy for me to dream of it now. It’s a beautiful hot day here and the kids just had a water hose fight in the backyard after we came back from a little walk and a frozen yogurt treat.
I can’t help trying to find the link between watching snow fall and what it does to me and sitting on the beach watching the waves. There is one. I know it. At least for me. Both relaxes me in a special way. Maybe both of them have this steady movement, that might even feel hypnotizing. Not sure. But it definitely slows me down. There’s no such thing like silence, though, with the waves. You definitely hear them. And yet it’s a soothing sound.
Maybe this is what I usually crave this time of the year. The soothing and relaxing sound, the possibility to breathe and slow down. And maybe that’s why I can connect both of them.

Credit: Clark Little Photography
I have a very deffinate love/hate relationship with winter and snow but I know what you mean about the silence. It’s a feeling, peaceful almost a reverance. I have an office area on my front porch. I like to go out with a blanket and sit to watch the snow fall. The quiet feels so good that when you talk you don’t want to speak above a whisper. The ocean waves are the same thing but at the other end of the spectrum. It’s the sound of the waves crashing onto the sand that’s peaceful
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You totally got me.
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🙂
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I think everyone loves snow when it first starts and it is Silent ands beautiful and peaceful. Then reality sets in and we want it to stop!
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Well, I could watch it snow for a long time but the question is if I’d like the snow to stick around for so long…
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Both snow and waves are healing in their own way, I feel. We just slow down and find our middle ground.
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Yes, indeed.
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Lovely post. But now I can’t stop hearing. It’s 1 AM and everyone else in the house is asleep. Normally this is my “quiet time” but now I hear things usually blanked, the ticking of the wall clock in another room, the heat kicking on, a dog in a distant yard reacting to something outside my hearing range by howling. And no silencing blanket of snow, never in Waller County, Texas.
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Are there crickets? Cicadas? They sound soothing too…
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No crickets, no cicadas, just occasional tinnitus.
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🙂
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Silence is crucial to my existence. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night, just to hear the quiet and stillness.
There is a magical quality of the snow quiet. I miss it.
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I totally understand.
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That is really strange imagining you sitting in the hot sun and writing about the peacefulness of a winterk’s day when the snow falls…. lol! But you know what? It is hard to imagine over here too at the time..haha. Anyway I love how you said that everything turns into slow motion. That is so very true. I love to look outside into a winter’s night when it is snowing… something I cannot describe.
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I struggled to find the right words for it. It’s simply magical.
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You did great, because you made these pictures and feelings rise up. Very good! I can understand how difficult it is.
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If you have a me-day- you can have absolute quiet. Somehow the carol” Silent Night” which was first written by someone who was walking in the snow- is so apt. He felt he was all alone in the world and then he knew he actually was not.
Every one needs their silences.
Susie
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Yes, we all do indeed.
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Excellent connection between the song and the silence new fallen snow brings. The boys noticed the silence yesterday (I think it was the youngest who first pointed it out) as we were hiking. He noticed we could no longer hear traffic 🙂
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I still find it fascinating… I hope the kids will experience it too. It’s something you can hardly describe, you need to experience it.
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I feel much the same way with a nice steady rain shower. Being a Floridian, I admit I have a romantic view of snow but not totally unrealistic (I have relatives that live up north and I have been through several northern winters).
Peace is where you find it.
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That’s very true. Rain can bring that peace as well.
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I loved to watch the snow. Did it for hours. Then I had to go shovel it. 😦 Now it rains in winter where I live. No shovel required. Silence is such a precious commodity, like gold, even more so. I can listen to the rain and be soothed the same way. At the beach, I sleep like a baby. I get up at 3:30 or 4 in the morning just to have time when there are no other sounds for just a little while. Have a wonderful, silent day.
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Thank you, you too.
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I miss winter, especially at the holidays. Haven’t experienced snow since 2012 as my sails keep me in warmer climates. Still, I’m enjoying this Santa on A Surf Board thing you’ve got going on here in Australia. I just might stay awhile
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Hahaha… yes, that’s pretty neat.
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Merry Christmas, Sandra!
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Merry Christmas to you too xoxo
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I think it’s something about the constancy of all these things – rain, snow, waves, etc. – that make them all so soothing and these experiences as examples of mindfulness.
There are very few things in life and this world that one can count on to be nearly the same whenever and wherever they are experienced. I guess we start to think of them in the same way as ambient noise. During those times we tend to forget about any associated negatives like flooding, leaks and shoveling!
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Definitely! A fire in a fireplace is something soothing too…
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Excellent example!
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