Cultivating Silence
By Joshua on March 12 2008
Photo by victor nuno (license)
Earlier this week, I wrote about how being silent can help you stand out from the crowd. But silence is more than just another way of attracting attention. It is also a way of rediscovering what is really important and reconnecting with the source of our creativity.
My favorite formulation of the principle says, "It is only in silence that one can hear the Word clearly."
The question for many people, though, is how we can cultivate silence when we are constantly surrounded by noise. While cutting out some of the noise from our daily lives (like RSS, email, etc.) is very helpful, as the amount of noise increases, it becomes more difficult to just trim things back. Often what we need is a more radical break.
One thing that I try to do is set aside one day every week to disconnect even from "fun" noise. It's amazing how much of a difference this can make in my sense of well-being.
What about you? Do you cultivate silence in your life? If so, how? If not, why?
What our readers said
Usually weekends are when I try to stay away from RSS and e-mail. Kind of figure the weekend is meant for relaxation, so why not use it for its purpose?
I totally agree. The tricky part is when we also have “relaxing” activities that just keep us wired instead of really relaxing us.
Hi Joshua – nice post! I use my daily run and swim as my quiet time :)
like your post. Being unemployed, I really don’t need that much of silence treatment. But sometimes I stop watching TV, it really puts things in perspective. Or I go for walk once a week for some silence and to re-connect to myself.
Right now, after having worked non-stop for about a week, I really feel like I could use some silence therapy… But it’s hard to stop and not do anything once you have got yourself in this loop of doing more and more things.
It’s so much easier to collect more work than let go of it. Maybe tonight, I’ll warm the sauna and just sit there silently trying not to think about my business plans or the work that needs to be done. Thanks for the inspiration!
@Mark: That’s excellent that your daily run and swim works as your quiet time. For me, I generally have to avoid strenuous activity altogether.
@Farah: Leaving the television alone for a while is a great way to shut out noise.
@Jarkko: I hope that you are able to have some silence and relax for a while!
Hi Joshua – nice post!
Yeah, yesterday was really nice. Didn’t do any work, and actually felt rather relaxed this morning after a good night’s sleep.
@vishnu: Thanks!
@Jarkko: Excellent. Now you can really get back to work. ;-)
No, and I need to figure out a way to do that more. It’s interesting how there are some activities which make me feel more whole (reading, taking a walk, playing an instrument) and others which, although often involving more thinking, are somehow incomplete (Internet). It’s odd too how addicted one can get to information; the inability to sit quietly and simply *be* in the Presence of the Lord, or the need to get some “new insight” into a Mystery rather than reflecting on what has already been gleaned, or the inability to practice lectio divina. And this sort of thing often gets translated into my listening habits with other people; not being able to do one thing fully in that moment and simply concentrate on that exchange of thoughts and ideas.
Speaking of which, I saw this book in the library yesterday and thought of you: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565123913/somethingyoushoul/