When we are in silence, without our usual distractions, we may notice a part of us struggling with this silence.
This is a current topic for me. In my twenties, I seemed very comfortable with silence and loved sitting in meditation on my own or with others. I would do it at least one or two hours a day, and often longer.
Later, when several layers of trauma surfaced, this got more difficult. Instead of a peaceful and quietly blissful silence, silence meant a meeting with very deep pain.
So my practice now, when I go into silence and absence of distractions, is to notice and meet the parts of me struggling with the silence and the pain. How is it to notice and befriend these parts of me? How is it to notice their nature?
How is it to notice the stillness and silence in my nature? How is it to notice it taking the form of contractions, discomfort, and so on?
The essence of this exploration is very simple, and it can also have several different aspects:
Notice the parts of me struggling with the pain, and associating silence and absence of distractions with this pain. Notice they are parts and objects within consciousness.
Befriending them. Getting to know them. Listen to their views and stories.
Find their needs, wants, and sense of lack, and give what they lack and want to them. (Often love, safety, support, and so on.)
Notice their nature. Rest in that noticing. Inviting them to notice their own nature and rest in that noticing.
And do the same with whatever contractions come up, both the ones reacting to the trauma and pain and the ones in trauma and pain. (Not that they are very different from each other.)