I was excited and scared all in one. 3 days of silence – did I hear right? Yes, but, but, but….Each ‘but’ had a legitimate (in my head) reason why I could not do it. Excuses, Excuses, Excuses.

I am natures greatest miracle, that said I am feeling afraid. Calling out and recognising the fear, I made a decision to do something. I was not able to be silent for three days straight so I decided to split the period of silence. One day and a further two days 24 hours later.

Having made the decision I put the plans into place to follow through – after all I always keep my promises.

The first 24 hours was tiring, I realise I talk a lot, yada yada yada, food, yada, yada, yada, the sea is strong yada, yada, yada, I wonder if the fishermen will catch any fish yada, yada, yada, the suns hot, maybe I should get up and walk yada, yada, yada, should I read scroll VI yada, yada, yada – what did Mark say? Yada, yada, yada. I noticed the clouds and realised I was zoning out in-between the yada, yada, yada. I ended up speaking twice during the first 24 hours silence.

The next 48 hours silence was so different. I walked for hours – interesting things happened a man was just sitting and he acknowledged me by saying continue your walking meditation. There was less yada, yada and longer periods of silence.

At times during the next 48 hours I found myself saying ‘be silent, be silent – it is ok’ . At times I felt afraid that there was no yada, yada occupying space in my mind. But I enjoyed repeating my one sentence DMP and found myself smiling to myself as I did so.

All in all I enjoyed the to me the ‘challenge’ and will do it again.

There is value in the silence.