As a musician, you’re taught and reminded often how important the rests are in the music.
The silence between the notes is every bit as important as the sound itself.
We talk a lot these days.
And when you find yourself overwhelmed,
Wondering what to say next,
It might be a good time to just sit back and listen for a while.
It can’t be any truer than this, we definitely talk way too much. Thank you for the great reflection.
.-= lamia ben´s last blog ..Relearning to be disconnected =-.
It can’t be any truer than this, we definitely talk way too much. Thank you for the great reflection.
.-= lamia ben´s last blog ..Relearning to be disconnected =-.
What a great reminder (and I always love your musical analogies).
What a great reminder (and I always love your musical analogies).
This is critical as a community manager and something Jim Storer teaches me all the time (I’m a talker)… sit back listen… and wait. Community emergence takes time and space. Yes people need encouragement and support but they also need to feel like there is an important opening that they can uniquely fill. It’s the flutes pausing for the horns in a symphony… so to speak.
.-= Rachel Happe´s last blog ..Best Practices in Member Engagement =-.
The spaces between the notes are where interesting things happen. They define rhythm. If you want to mess with someone, break that rhythm.
There’s a martial arts technique where you walk up to someone and hit them on the side of the head (more or less). It’s a funny technique, because it looks deceptively simple. Just walk up and clobber them, right? But it’s REALLY hard because [a] they see it coming and [b] it ONLY works if you know the spaces between the notes – the period of “flight phase” between footsteps. Hit someone when they’re grounded, on note, and you bounce off of them. Hit someone in mid-stride, between the notes, and you will knock them on their ass, possibly unconscious. It’s fun to watch.
Mastering the technique requires mastering the understanding of silence between the notes. Therein lies all the magic.
.-= Christopher S. Penn ´s last blog ..Why Google Buzz is brilliant and deadly to social media 1.0 =-.
I might need to learn that one. 🙂
This is critical as a community manager and something Jim Storer teaches me all the time (I’m a talker)… sit back listen… and wait. Community emergence takes time and space. Yes people need encouragement and support but they also need to feel like there is an important opening that they can uniquely fill. It’s the flutes pausing for the horns in a symphony… so to speak.
.-= Rachel Happe´s last blog ..Best Practices in Member Engagement =-.
The spaces between the notes are where interesting things happen. They define rhythm. If you want to mess with someone, break that rhythm.
There’s a martial arts technique where you walk up to someone and hit them on the side of the head (more or less). It’s a funny technique, because it looks deceptively simple. Just walk up and clobber them, right? But it’s REALLY hard because [a] they see it coming and [b] it ONLY works if you know the spaces between the notes – the period of “flight phase” between footsteps. Hit someone when they’re grounded, on note, and you bounce off of them. Hit someone in mid-stride, between the notes, and you will knock them on their ass, possibly unconscious. It’s fun to watch.
Mastering the technique requires mastering the understanding of silence between the notes. Therein lies all the magic.
.-= Christopher S. Penn ´s last blog ..Why Google Buzz is brilliant and deadly to social media 1.0 =-.
I might need to learn that one. 🙂
Amber –
Excellent reminder. Thanks for that. I needed it too. I love to talk. I love to participate. I love a lot of stuff. Listening is what we preach in Community Management. Sometimes it’s cool to practice what we preach, huh?
Shhhhhhh.
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
.-= DJ Waldow´s last blog ..Marathon, Sideways, Backpack: 3 Words For 2010 =-.
Amber –
Excellent reminder. Thanks for that. I needed it too. I love to talk. I love to participate. I love a lot of stuff. Listening is what we preach in Community Management. Sometimes it’s cool to practice what we preach, huh?
Shhhhhhh.
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
.-= DJ Waldow´s last blog ..Marathon, Sideways, Backpack: 3 Words For 2010 =-.
Awesome…and this resonates with me from an artistic and design point of view: The importance of white space!
**Note to self – Be wary of Christopher in “standing around” situations.
.-= James Ball´s last blog ..How’s Your John Hancock These Days, Social Enough? =-.
Awesome…and this resonates with me from an artistic and design point of view: The importance of white space!
**Note to self – Be wary of Christopher in “standing around” situations.
.-= James Ball´s last blog ..How’s Your John Hancock These Days, Social Enough? =-.
Thank you for this reminder, Amber. I’m disconnecting this weekend myself and going to enjoy some silence and see what happens.
.-= Melissa´s last blog ..First Lady Tackling Childhood Obesity =-.
Thank you for this reminder, Amber. I’m disconnecting this weekend myself and going to enjoy some silence and see what happens.
.-= Melissa´s last blog ..First Lady Tackling Childhood Obesity =-.
Amber, they don’t call them “pregnant pauses” in conversation for nothing.
.-= Larry Irons´s last blog ..Ethnography and Ubiquitous Digital Research =-.
Amber, they don’t call them “pregnant pauses” in conversation for nothing.
.-= Larry Irons´s last blog ..Ethnography and Ubiquitous Digital Research =-.
Deep-sounding thought I just made up: You have to stop talking to hear the echo.
.-= Tamsen McMahon´s last blog ..The secret to lasting change =-.
Deep-sounding thought I just made up: You have to stop talking to hear the echo.
.-= Tamsen McMahon´s last blog ..The secret to lasting change =-.
The space between the notes is always a refreshing time for me – especially since it is too easy to pack the day/week/season so tightly that no space remains. It’s even too easy to feel a sense of accomplishment from marginless living.
My life is better, the lives of those around me, even my productivity increases when I purposefully make space. Being snow-bound for the last six days reminded me that just eliminating outside work – even going outside! – does not equal the creation of the space between the notes.
Even on a very quiet day, without outside interruption, it is far too easy to to yield to the desire to fill time with activity, instead of allowing time to refill me with quiet, renewed purpose.
Thanks for the reminder, and for the renewal of the value!
.-= Earl´s last blog ..Earl52: The Silence Between The Notes | Brand Elevation Through Social Media and Social Business | Altitude Branding http://ow.ly/16Mdm =-.
The space between the notes is always a refreshing time for me – especially since it is too easy to pack the day/week/season so tightly that no space remains. It’s even too easy to feel a sense of accomplishment from marginless living.
My life is better, the lives of those around me, even my productivity increases when I purposefully make space. Being snow-bound for the last six days reminded me that just eliminating outside work – even going outside! – does not equal the creation of the space between the notes.
Even on a very quiet day, without outside interruption, it is far too easy to to yield to the desire to fill time with activity, instead of allowing time to refill me with quiet, renewed purpose.
Thanks for the reminder, and for the renewal of the value!
.-= Earl´s last blog ..Earl52: The Silence Between The Notes | Brand Elevation Through Social Media and Social Business | Altitude Branding http://ow.ly/16Mdm =-.
Completely agree. I’m frequently stunned at what I learn when I just take that step back to listen, absorb and consider. With so many channels to tune into, it’s real easy to succumb to the pressure to just say something.
Don’t give in. Listen, consider, and then maybe, participate and contribute.
Thanks for the reminder.
Completely agree. I’m frequently stunned at what I learn when I just take that step back to listen, absorb and consider. With so many channels to tune into, it’s real easy to succumb to the pressure to just say something.
Don’t give in. Listen, consider, and then maybe, participate and contribute.
Thanks for the reminder.
Ahhh, the power of daily yoga and nature hikes, to help slow me down and quiet the mind for the benefit of being truly present in conversation.
.-= Brenda Horton´s last blog ..How To Make Killer GUACAMOLE Dip For Super Bowl Sunday =-.
Amber, silence is the bridge between the notes that creates the entire song. The Who wrote a song, Pure and Easy, in which they describe that there is one note that rings through all the other sounds and silence to be heard. You can only hear this note if you’re still and listen.
As humans we can’t help but communicate. It’s in our nature to create volume, and that results in a lot of noise. The ones that sit back and listen are the ones able to take that one note, share it, and create something that is beyond the confines of musical structure.
.-= DaveMurr´s last blog ..Meet Meghan Kearney Schiesser – An Example of Facebook’s Hidden Value =-.
Amber, silence is the bridge between the notes that creates the entire song. The Who wrote a song, Pure and Easy, in which they describe that there is one note that rings through all the other sounds and silence to be heard. You can only hear this note if you’re still and listen.
As humans we can’t help but communicate. It’s in our nature to create volume, and that results in a lot of noise. The ones that sit back and listen are the ones able to take that one note, share it, and create something that is beyond the confines of musical structure.
.-= DaveMurr´s last blog ..Meet Meghan Kearney Schiesser – An Example of Facebook’s Hidden Value =-.
And then there’s John Cage’s 4’33” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E. The real magic in the unconscious music produced. The rest sells the note. You’re sometimes very conscience of this in a verbal discussion outside of a cable news shoutfest.
.-= Kevin Cesarz´s last blog ..Fragments are fine for web content =-.
And then there’s John Cage’s 4’33” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E. The real magic in the unconscious music produced. The rest sells the note. You’re sometimes very conscience of this in a verbal discussion outside of a cable news shoutfest.
.-= Kevin Cesarz´s last blog ..Fragments are fine for web content =-.