Noise

Sometimes noise can be deafening without any sound at all. Many posts on social media are becoming such a thing for me. It almost makes me long for the era when relatives cranked up their Kodak slide carousels and shared vacation photos, ad nauseam, to captive audiences furtively watching the clock in anticipation of an exit. Fortunately, such events were few and far between. Not so much for memes, tweets and other shout outs to audiences who did not ask to be yelled at. I support the right to free speech, but time and place, people.

Okay, now I feel better. I spewed off a little noise of my own. Thanks for listening. It is time for a few sounds I recommend for better mental health.

1) Birds. I just cannot listen to the sounds of birds without smiling. Their voices often transport me to favorite places. A meadowlark sends me to a crunchy gravel road as I maneuver an unwieldy bicycle to retrieve the mail from our mailbox down the road a piece. The meadowlarks were always dressed in little tuxedos and seemed to serenade me with their latest news of the prairie. Chickadees never fail to remind me of stately conifer trees in our favorite vacation destination. They seem to be gossiping about where they have hidden their latest cache of seeds and how pleased they are for backyard feeders. You're welcome, sweet chickadees. Hawks piercing the sound waves with their focused carnivorous warnings never fail to give me goosebumps. Food chains are alive and well.

2) Water. I am not referring to the water my sump pump belches out whenever there is an overload of moisture near our home. The water I find soothing is what mother nature naturally provides. Soft raindrops pattering on the windows. Swirls of water frothing at the base of a waterfall. Clear streams tinkling over colorful rocks. River edges slapping the shoreline with the ebb and flow of hidden forces. Waves of Lake Superior rollicking over boulders and well worn stones. Time spent by the waterside is time well spent.

3) Playgrounds. There is nothing better than the sound of children playing without the accompaniment of technology. Teeter totters rhythmically thumping the ground, swings chiming in tempo with pumping legs and trapeze rings screeching with hang gliding thrills keep my ears serenaded. The chatter and giggling of kids lost in their own creation of play is the antidote to eyes glazed over with excessive screen time swashbuckling.

4) Silence. Technically, not a sound, I suppose, but it is difficult to dispute the calming influence of no noise at all. Mute the phone, shut off the TV, pause the playlist and test your ability to cope with your own thoughts. The best place to experience silence is away from the buzz of city life. Find a spot in the countryside in the gloaming hours. I can guarantee the stars will seem brighter than you've ever known and the voices in your head will stop shouting and begin to whisper gently, if at all. Soak up the calm.

I hope you are able to experience a few sounds of pleasantness this week. Savor the moments.