In quietness alone

Written on January 28, 2025

In quietness alone
the answers come

They’re not on my phone 
not in a book
or a course
or YouTube
There not even in my journal with a candle lit and soft classical music playing

Everything I’m searching for
indeed anything I’ve ever been searching for
has been right here
inside
waiting for the quiet
so it’s whisper could be heard

And I know that

I’ve known that

My mom told me that when I was a kid
“The answers are all inside of you,” she’d say.

But then I went to school
learned to read
and they told me the answers
were in the books

“It’s an open book test,” they said 
“And they’re all in there.”

So I believed them

Now I see that they were right
but only partly

Life is an open book test

And I’m the book

There’s no teacher
no mentor
no master
no guru

There’s just me, myself, and I

And the more silence I give
the more information I receive

I can tune in like a radio dial
but it’s hard to not switch channels

It’s hard to turn off the noise
the beautiful, chaotic, cacophony of distraction
I not so secretly love it

But when I catch myself in silence
the breathtaking, synchopated, symphony of quietude 
I realize it’s all I need

Me, myself, and I 
the open book test of myself 
and I am reminded again and again  
through the whispers

In quietness alone
the answers come