This is the first post of my “Open-Eared Sabbath” series, where I share journal entries, soundscape recordings and photos from my week free from headphones.

I am taking a Sabbath from recorded sound so I can stop wondering and planning what I ought to be listening to at any given moment:

What music will put me at ease? Which podcast will educate me? What service did I miss that I need to catch up on?

These are fine questions, but I want to spend time in the margins of silence and noise that are all around me. I want to drop in to what is here, who is here, where I am. For once, I don’t want to be transported somewhere else.

This morning, my headphones broke. I was trying to plug them in, and somehow the charger ate some of the inner metal parts. It’s ok–I can survive for a week without blocking the world out. Here’s to an acoustic week.

What if I didn’t fill mornings with so many words and aspirations? An ambient hum of some machine is faintly audible. So it the occasional plop against the window, crack of the house, roommate turning on and off water. I love the quiet. I love this quiet.