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One morning, I had to walk my dogs alone, since my wonderful wife was out of town.  At first, I popped my headphones in and started listening to Comedy Central.  But for some reason after I walked out of my home's Wi-Fi range, the signal crapped out, and so I was met with silence.  Rather than drag my phone out of my pocket, I just walked with the silence, and after a couple of minutes of consciously enjoying the sun and view of the lakes and my cute dogs, my brain popped out the answer to a complicated problem I'd been thinking about for a couple of days. Eureka!

“Wait, what? It’s a silent retreat?!”

I finally signed up for a three day introduction to meditation retreat, with plans to build a regular meditation practice. I had convinced myself that it would be a little meditation, some learning, and some hiking in the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains. Upon arrival, I learned that this “partially silent” retreat meant total silence for about 22 hours per day. We could only talk on an afternoon break and at dinner. Uhh... crap.

I might not be the biggest talker in the world, but sitting still AND being quiet is really not my cup of tea.

But I learned a lot.