How can I make time and space for the gift of silence today?

Considering this question, I went back to a spot in the woods where two years ago I first experienced meditation as an exquisite gift. Where I was invited into silence by the many voices/one voice of a creek flowing over stones.

The covered votive I had left two years ago was still there nestled in a hollow tree stump. The same sitting spot was there — long straight trunk of dead tree fallen horizontally caught by flanking brush a few inches off the ground.

But this day, the shallow creek was not singing, it was frozen solid. No matter, it was lovely to sit in the peace of the place with eyes closed. I’m not sure how much time had passed when I felt a strong vibration begin at the far end of the tree trunk and then move toward and up through my “sit bones” into the base of my spine! Hmmmm.

I opened my eyes and turned my head slowly to see sitting there quite near a fat, gray squirrel. Not churring, chattering, or tail-flicking as is a squirrel’s way but simply leaning back on its haunches regarding me with calm curiosity. Luminous, dark eyes. Each in our own stillness, gazing at the ‘other’ in a sort of timelessness. Then it leapt to the nearby trunk of a standing tree and climbed skyward.

As I reflect on this, a verse from e.e. cummings comes to mind:

we are so both and oneful
night cannot be so sky
sky cannot be so sunfull
i am through you so i

Thank you, Gratefulness Team, for these questions, helping me think and grow. Thank you to all who share here. Peace, all.