During my spring break I went back to Poland to celebrate Easter with my family. I was also hosting some friends from Switzerland (where I’m living at the moment) and wanted to show them some places in my country of origin. Naturally, I took them to a beautiful little town – Kazimierz Dolny, which is really close to my home town. As we were walking along the river and enjoying the stunning views, I noticed a really interesting graffiti on the wall beside. Surrounded by all the ugly and nonsense scribbles, there were two identical owls with the following words underneath:

A wise old owl

Sat on an oak

The more he

Saw the less

He spoke

The less he spoke the

More he heard

Why aren’t

We like that

Old wise bird?

It was definitely unexpected and I found the words not only beautifully crafted, but also profoundly true. I think that very often, in this loud and fast moving world, we forget about something as simple as silence. We are constantly trying to shout over each other, wanting to be heard, to be noticed. However, the thing is that if we talk all the time, we do not profit much from it as we’re just telling what we already know. Only when we actually shut up and start listening, can we actually learn something new, broaden our knowledge and view, gain previously unknown perspectives. In my opinion, silence is also a precious tool to hear the voice within. If we keep on being loud, it’s so easy to miss out on what it wants to tell us. It’s a shame because we have been given this voice so that it could guide us, help us out when we need answers. In the end, our intuition is the only thing we need to figure out what to do in any kind of situation and in life as a whole. If we followed it, we would never have to search for happiness and inner peace again because we would naturally be who we were meant to be. So, I leave you here with this thought. I hope we will all learn something from the wise old owl.

Love,

M