In the last few years I have learned to love silence, and have also learned to love getting really loud.
I am not talking about a silence that is withholding, cold or punitive, nor a loudness that is explosive, intrusive or dramatic. I am referring to silence that is patient, fertile, and expansive, and loudness that unblocks, gives voice to energy that's been held inside.
The quiet stillness of early morning just before the sun comes up. The delight of singing in the shower at full volume.
Both offer the possibility of fullness and freedom, and can even have a meditative quality. Laughing out loud from deep in your belly, or inhaling silence all the way down into your body, then a full, satisfying exhale.
If you wanna live your life
Llive it all the way & don't you waste it
Every feeling, every beat
can be so very sweet you gotta taste it
You gotta do it, you gotta do it your way
you gotta prove it
You gotta mean what you say…
let the music make you free
be what you wanna be
make no excuses
–– from "Let's Get Loud" by Jennifer Lopez