Have you ever found yourself in a place filled with a lot of noise that penetrates through your hearts and mind, rendering you incapable of making a discerning choice at any time? Noise pollution is one of the greatest enemies of man when it comes to thinking and engaging the mind in positive thoughts. It comes in various ways ranging from noise from industrial machinery, cars, people yelling and the noise from animals. At first, it may seem normal for someone to try and control the amount of noise that comes through the ear into the mind, but as it becomes louder, the mind starts to fight it off by trying to switch off its environmental sensitivity awareness. This is seen when a person who has found himself in a noisy environment goes into a deep sleep even with all the noise. What happens then is that the mind has switched off its environmental awareness and by so doing, plunge the mind of the person into the state of oblivion and total silence.
I remember when I was walking in a flour mill back in the days I used to imagine how my older colleges will fall asleep amid all the noise emanating from the rollers and all the other machines. One faithful day while I was drafted to work the night shift, as we were working that night, I noticed that I was feeling sleepy. This thing got me worried and thinking. I tried so hard to push the sleep away but all the effort resulted in nothing. I could not imagine how I was still feeling sleepy while the whole environment was filled with excess noise which has even made it so hard for us to talk within the normal loudness of the voice. After fighting for so long, I had to give in and I sleep off although I had to get the permission of my shift manager. While it felt so awkward to me that day was just because I have never experienced such a thing but after that day, I became aware that such a thing could happen to someone.
Now, if you find yourself in a noisy environment, you will always appreciate the calmness of an environment without noise. This leads me to ask us this question. When last did you go into solitude as a means to recollect yourself and the things you do? It is something I have noticed around here that most people do not value that quiet time of their life. I have heard a friend telling me how he feels sick whenever he finds himself in a quiet environment. Each time he says this, I will look at him and laugh because it shows that he has not lived in a noisy environment for so long that he would be begging to feel a bit of calmness in his life. Some will say that solitude or quiet time is for those who are weak in the mind. I always laugh each time I heard this statement because one of the things that makes a man is the ability to go into solitude as a means to think about his life, the things he has done and the ones he needs to do. I call a time of reflection. It is not a time when one will find himself amid noise because the brain needs to calmly calibrate to be able to carry out the task of solitude.
We can call it a time of recalibration for the mind. This is the major reason a lot of people go for yoga because it is believed that yoga helps to open the mind beyond its limit. As humans, we are a higher animal and we must learn how to take a time off to think about how far we have gone and the things we need to do better. Just as we see in the life of the eagle. The eagle is known to go into hibernation once in its lifetime as a way to rejuvenate its failing strength. It does this once it begins to notice that it is no longer as sharp and calculated as it uses to be. This is why an eagle can live for more than 20 years of age and still be as sharp and vibrant as a young bird. It is also seen in the life of snakes. This is that time it goes to change its scales and after this period, the snake comes out looking very new and beautiful. Now if the animals were wired to go into solitude ones in a while, why then do we find it so hard to do as humans. The life we live is one that has been pegged on a drawing board that even a stranger can easily predict what we will do by tomorrow at a particular time.
If you have not taken a time off from all the hustle and bustle of your life to go into solitude, you will find out that your life will be on a downward trend which will lead to an untimely death. Solitude is not only meant for the mind to think, it is also a time for one to take care of his body and health by visiting the hospital for checkups just as seen in the life of the animals. Little wonder the life span of an average West African man is below 55 years. This is because an average African man sees life as a place where hustling is the only way of life. In the western world, people go to checkups on a daily or weekly basis as they wish because they have learnt that good health is wealth. I urge you my reader to take this very seriously especially if you are from the continent of Africa. Life has no duplicate. Therefore we must make a conscious effort to always take a time off to go into solitude as a way to take care of ourselves mentally, physically and otherwise. Be wise.
