How Do You Find Silence?
Modern life is busy, fast, and noisy. Nature is balanced. Without silence, there is no balance.
Let’s look at six ways to discover the blessing in silence.
Start Your Day With Breathing
Be still
Follow nature. She wakes up slowly and quietly.
You can do the same with your breath.
Before you take a shower, get dressed, eat, just breathe.
Breathe in the daylight. Let yourself be one with the morning.
Don’t think. Don’t intend. Don’t set any goals.
Just see what the days has for you.
Receive it.
Silently Sip Your Tea
There is something really restorative about starting the morning with a hot cup of tea or coffee.
If you drink it in silence, you create space to have a sensual experience with your tea.
Feel the warmth of the cup.
Enjoy the flavor of the brew.
Notice how your body responds to the act of drinking.
Taking a moment to be in relationship with the tea, the cup, the air that surrounds you, and all other facets of the experience is far more grounding than filling the space with noise and busyness.
Try it.
Ditch the Headphones
Do you exercise in the morning? What would happen if you did it in silence?
Listen to your heartbeat.
Pay attention to the sounds of nature.
Clear space for your thoughts to inspire you.
Create space to see what you habitually miss.
How does that change your experience?
Listen
What would it be like to give someone your full attention while they were speaking?
How would it feel to pause, and think about what you wanted to say, and then speak your truth rather than come up with the “right” or witty reply?
Creating space between thought and speech gives you that experience.
Resist the temptation to rescue yourself or others from awkwardness.
Pause. There is power in the silence.
Turn Off the Tunes
Music is an amazing thing. It heals, inspires, enlivens, connects, and releases.
And when overused, it can keep us from thinking and feeling.
Or it can rev us up when we multitask by listening to music, talking, planning, working, and driving all at the same time.
So, turn off the tunes. Just for today.
Experience what it is like to clean, work, or drive in silence. Fully immerse yourself in what you are doing.
Be there with all your being.
Carry Your Silence Within
Siddhartha Gautama said, “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
When you cultivate silence of the mind, you can carry it with you wherever you go.
You’re not swept up in the madness that is happening around you. It won’t matter if an ambulance is roaring down the street or a herd of buffalo is coming towards you, your inner voice is clear and easy to hear.
There is no replacement for that.
And the greatest part about that is that it’s free. Everyone can have it by cultivating it.
Let go of noise and silence is yours.