Things getting a bit backed up for ya? Is there too much “noise” going on in your life? If you could just take a few minutes for yourself… would you?

Back in 1970, my family and I spent the spring and summer in Europe as a side benefit of my Dad’s work assignment to The Hague in the Netherlands. Suffice it to say we spent a lot of time on weekends doing the usual tourist thing. (One nice thing about Europe – everything is conveniently close, compared to driving around the U.S.!)

However, this trip was different – we were on our way to Italy! My dad had taken a couple of weeks off, and we drove from Den Haag down to Rome and back in a marathon do-it-yourself tour of central Europe. Naturally, we tried to hit as many of the typical tourist spots as we could, of course, but every now and then we found a little, out-of-the-way gem that made the extra stop worthwhile.

Therefore, I have no idea where we were at the time (I think it might have been somewhere in Germany), but there was this one place we stopped…

The Quietest Place on Earth

I remember how beautiful the weather was. Blue sky with a few clouds, temperature in the mid-70s (°F), and a light, warm breeze caressing us. We’d stopped pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but I have no idea why – maybe my Dad just wanted to stretch his legs. It felt good to get out of the car for a few minutes.

Stretching out beside us was a huge, grassy field, sloping gently upwards to the top of a low hill nearby. The grass seemed to be a nearly uniform 3 feet high or so, and I recall it being very green (actually, the grass looked nothing like the photo above; it’s just the best one I could find that conveys the sense of it); it almost made me think of, well, green fur. The breeze caused the long slender blades to sway gently, creating a very gentle, low-level shushing sound that sortof tickled the senses in some indefinably pleasant fashion.

Since there were no fences, I strolled away from the road and wandered into the grass. (Isn’t it funny how, as a kid, we’ll pretty much go anywhere without giving it a second thought? All we’re interested in is adventure. However, as an *ahem* responsible adult, I’d probably lose a lot of time wondering what I couldn’t see: bugs? snakes? alligators? mole people?)

Heedless of any potential catastrophe, I started up the hill to, like the chicken who crossed the road, “see what there was to see”. At the top, though, was simply more grass, stretching into the distance. I could see the ground rolled gently, like a loose blanket on a bed, creating little depressions, folds, and other green-clad but otherwise mundane features.

In fact, directly in front of me was a small depression, forming a shallow bowl about, oh, maybe 50 feet in diameter and about 10 or so feet deep. Totally unconcerned for my personal well-being (no thought of, for instance, giant ants, bottomless pits or quicksand), I wandered down to the low spot, and almost immediately noticed it:

Silence… complete and utter silence.

I’m tellin’ ya, it was downright spooky. Because of the raised edge of the hill (it was sorta like being in the middle of a giant, soft green donut), the breeze didn’t even stir the grass at the bottom. Everything was completely and totally silent – no blades stirring; nothin’.

It’s amazing how much background noise there is – when you can no longer hear it! On top of the hill, there was the breeze, the grass rustling, an occasional passing auto, and other assorted noises. But here, there were none whatsoever. You could practically hear your hair grow. (Come to think of it, it was like – the cone of silence!)

I walked back to the top of the hill and called the rest of my family to join me, and together we descended back into the hollow. It was really weird; although we spoke in completely normal conversational tones, we could hear each other clearly, no matter where we were in the space.

So what did we do? Why had lunch, of course! My sister and I immediately headed for the car and fetched the picnic basket, and together we ate lunch in the Quietest Place on Earth. After an hour or so of eating, relaxing, and generally just enjoying ourselves, we got back in the car and resumed our trek; surprisingly refreshed beyond measure.

Talk about a restful, peaceful place – I’ve never found any place like it since. Quite the experience, I’ll tell ya! Over the years, I’ve come to value those times when I can, well, isolate myself from the world, even for a short time.

A Prescription for Personal Peace

You know, isn’t it amazing how much “background noise” fills our lives? We all get so busy, sometimes just finding the time to relax becomes a major effort. Even then, there’s still that “background noise”, coming from all over.

Well, maybe… maybe you should do what we did: Find a way to get completely isolated for a time (and I do mean isolated – no cell phone, no Blackberry, no email… well, you know the drill). It doesn’t have to be long – anything from a few minutes to a few hours will do. More, if you can spare it. You might be surprised how refreshing it can really be!

How long has it been since you totally relaxed? No, I mean really relaxed? Well, neighbor; that’s just too long!

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Funny thing; I don’t recall being all that tired BEFORE we stopped to have lunch. But once we got to that spot, everything else seemed to just melt away for awhile. We ate, relaxed, lay around in the grass for a few minutes… basically just isolated ourselves from the world. It was truly the most refreshing time we had on the whole trip.

But by the time we pulled the car away and headed on down the road, I’m tellin’ ya, we were ready for anything! Even had Godzilla chosen that particular moment to invade the Earth in a flying saucer, to raze the countryside with his giant feet and radioactive breath!

So here’s my question for ya: When was the last time you completely… and utterly… relaxed?