Are You Hungry For Quiet?

We all know that sleep is an essential part of life. In order to remain healthy, we need to give the body rest...time to renew and refresh. The same is true for the mind. What I find more and more difficult, is finding a place of quiet!!
I used to sit on the porch at night and it would be so peaceful, now all hours of the day and night I can hear traffic rumbling up and down the roads, planes flying over, as more and more the rural country settings are being swallowed up. I know that around here there is no such thing as a "back" road anymore.
How many of us here are hungry for quiet? Noise pollution all day at work, the drive home from work...even home....appliances running, tv's, lawn mowers...dogs barking... Sometimes my mind craves silence...I try to meditate and find a quiet place in my head, only to be disturbed by noise...Does anyone else feel this way?

I know what you mean. I'm almost hesitant to post in this thread, because I'm blessed with quiet. Twice a month for the next couple of months I have to go to our nation's capital. Hard to sleep there. It's bright, it's noisy, at least compared with this sleepy little place.

Just got back a day or two ago. It's nice there -- beautiful. I think I'd start to freak out if I were there for more than a week. It's funny too..... some of my friends that live there, in the city, feel like they're in sensory deprivation when they come here.

I suppose it's somewhat a matter of what level and TYPE of sensory input a person feels good in. My level is very close to yours, OP.

[edit for freudian typo. Depravation? ??]


[edit on 14-5-2009 by argentus]

I live on a major road a city with 28 million inhabitants.
I would just about strangle somebody for the chance to have ten minutes of absolute silence.

reply to post by Greenize


YES!

I'm particularly annoyed with church music that's over 85db . . . usually in the range of 95-115db . . . equal to chain saws, pneumatic drills and jack hammers.

That's abusive to children and every adult in the room. Sheesh.

Noise canceling headphones help.

I took a vacation to the country in winter one time. As quiet as could be. Trouble was, I began to hear my own breathing and heartbeat.
Aside from the fact, that when I meditate, I hear "other things".

I'm with the OP on this topic. Quiet is sometimes essential to clear your head. It's just hard to find a quiet place when you live in a big city.

I don't blame society for this, or our modern way of living (nature makes plenty of noise pollution on her own). I just think it's a shame we deprive ourselves of the beauty of nature.

I don't necessarily need "quiet" as much as I need to see the leaves blowing in the wind, the stars at night, the birds and the bees going about their productive little lives. I think it's refreshing. It makes me feel like there's something more to being human than just working for creature comforts and trying to outmaneuver nature at every impasse.

Don't get me wrong, I like our planes trains and automobiles as much as the next guy ((and John Candy.) I wonder if kids these days even know who that is.), but I am only human -- and that makes me an animal. This animal is not programmed for life inside a giant concrete prison (with horizontal bars), but rather the elegant, delicate sophistication of an ecosystem rich in life of all kinds.

Sorry for getting a little off topic :-p

this reminds me of the main character in Palahniuk's Lullaby.
he's obsessed with everyone's obsession with the need for noise and distraction.

Oh yes peace and quiet. So few and far between those moments. I live in a pretty small town. When I was a kid we would leave the windows open all night and I would sleep like a baby. These past 2 weeks we have left the windows open and I am constantly woke up by police sirens and loud cars. I reach a point, which I am getting close to now, that I start shutting down. I can not focus, nothing gets done, I get edgy and grumpy. Luckily we do have "back roads" here where we can get away from it all. No electric almost 0 traffic just us and nature. We are headed there in a few days and will be there for 5 days. I can not wait! I need my batteries recharged. We do take mini trips out there year round on the nice days but the effects are just not long lasting for me unless we stay for a few days.

I hear ya guys, too many noises in the urban home and workplace. I like to sleep through the day on weekends (even though it is not a good sleep) because once it gets past 11pm, the house falls silent (minus the kitchen fridge/freezer humming and occassional taxi driver using my road as a rat run). I can sit and study in peace, read a book etc.

I have tried lying in a bath of water, but seem to always get a strage ringing sound in my ears, maybe the water pressure or something? Ear plugs are effective at giveing some quiet also.

Not only do we crave the silence, we also need to relax our eyes, too many flashing images from tv, pc, too many un-natural and bright colours, images every day. Can take its toll on our eyes. Nice to go out to the country side every now and then, just sit and stare at the clouds, cows, grass etc. Also has a calming effect on the mind.

If you think about it, our entire evolution as a species, all the way to modern man, occured in the near silence of nature. It's unnatural all the noise, and it must do something to us at a fundamental level, to remove us from our source, from our connection to the natural world.

I love the lights of the city at night though I must admit..

I am reminded of a couple that I met a couple of years ago that moved here to Ky from New york for the peace and quiet...they ended up moving back to New York because the mans wife didn't like the country...she said the quiet was scary! I suppose it is what you get used to, it just seems that peace and quiet are harder and harder to find...

I must agree. I need some quiet time at least once a day.
I use my music studio for that. I made it almost soundproof.
I use it for music, studying and meditation.

Reducing the noise from outside isn't that expensive, try and find some home studio solutions.
You will never be able to make it absolute soundproof. That will cost a lot.
But soundproofing is a great way to make the outside noise go from bothersome to a background white noise.