Herman Martinus, the creator of Bear blog, had an interesting thought on spending time in silence.

I’ve come to appreciate time spent with nothing but my thoughts. It’s something I’d escaped for years. In the modern age it’s so easy to always have some kind of entertainment streaming.

I don’t often do this. It’s not that I can’t be alone with my thoughts, but I find when I’m relatively alone, such as when I’m driving to work or walking the dog, I like to listen to a podcast or music.

However, when I’m alone in my car, and I’m on the interstate, I often turn off the podcast or the music and enjoy the silence. Again, this doesn’t happen often, but I enjoy the silence and the solitude. It’s interesting to me that it isn’t that I’m actively trying to be bored or to let my mind rest. I believe the act of driving on the interstate specifically allows me to escape more readily.

Cultivating more times that I can experience silence and solitude would likely do wonders for my mental health.