Listening in Silence

Are you afraid of silence? Does it mean loneliness to you? Did you ever ponder, why so?

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” Rumi

In COVID-19 times many of us were forced to face alone times, we were made to live in quietude, made to experience silence. Most of struggled deeply with the sudden break in life. It almost made us look straight into what really holds true for us when we don’t have our work to go to or people to meet and hundreds of daily distractions that we escape to.

Silence… When I want to feel my being again, I need silence. There is a quality about it which is surreal, peaceful and transformative. It's like a veil that can hold and reveal different meanings to us at different times. It's a direct way to feel awareness. Not only that, but it can unfold your own mystery to yourself and make you realise a path which you can own and can walk like no-one else! How, you might ask? There is only one way to find out…practice it!

Silence when practiced at regular periods can turn us inward and answer many questions. Practice a few hours of silence in a month to begin with and then gradually increase it. You would want to increase it. By practicing silence, I mean leave everything else, like your phone, your books, your partner, your work, your friends and just breathe and be! You can go to a quiet place in nature or even if you are in your room, switch off everything and be with yourself. Don’t speak, don’t hear, don’t eat, don’t watch and don’t talk. Imagine you work at a manufacturing plant. What happens when power gets cut off and all the machines that were running around you suddenly come to a standstill? There is a profound silence that follows. You suddenly become aware of your environment and hear birds chirping, you can feel the breeze again, can sense peoples vibrations around you, can smell the place, so on and so forth. So much one becomes aware of suddenly because silence takes the place of chaos. You will see for yourself what changes it will bring in you if you practice it regularly.

It will encourage you to speak mindfully, you will release the need to get into arguments, you will be calm and collected and people around you will feel more at ease as a result. First, you will experience external silence, which will soon turn into an internal peace. Can you guess the power that brings? When one does things with a clear heart and a calm mind, one can attain big achievements that initially might easily make one overwhelmed. Silence gives you immense control over your own life.

Four monks decided to meditate silently without speaking for two weeks. By nightfall on the first day, the candle began to flicker and then went out. The first monk said, "Oh, no! The candle is out." The second monk said, "Aren't we not suppose to talk?" The third monk said, "Why must you two break the silence?" The fourth monk laughed and said, "Ha! I'm the only one who didn't speak."

Such is the paramount need to speak, engage and break the silence. We are social creatures innately, but we all need to take some time off. Time off from people, situations, and day to day madness. When we go in silence it recharges us, rejuvenates our beings, and we can look at everything from a distance and figure things out in a better perspective.

Last thoughts:

- Experience silence in nature as much as possible, as it brings a different kind of harmony in the being.

- After the duration of silence, meditate on how your body is feeling. The messages or inspirations that you felt, and maybe you want to write them down.

- Prioritise your thoughts. Be vigilant and do not entertain the thoughts that are not serving you.

- Get on with action if called for. For example, if you have an urge to be creative, get on with it, if you feel compelled to write, do it, if you feel like a workout certainly do it.

- Try to listen to your core self during silence, which is buried under a lot of noise and conditioning.

Silence may help your health in several ways (supported by many studies) including:

- lowering blood pressure

- improving concentration and focus

- calming racing thoughts

- stimulating brain growth

- reducing cortisol

- stimulating creativity

- improving insomnia

- encouraging mindfulness

Ways to practice silence:

- Go in nature, sit on a hill, next to a water body, take a walk through a forest, comb the fields, enjoy sitting under the stars, be next to the fire and so many other nature oriented themes. Feel the breeze on your skin, hear the birds singing, observe the patterns on a flower, the alchemy of fire, eat fruits directly from a tree, put your feet in running water, feel the grass! It will do wonders to your body, mind, and spirit.

- Simply meditate anywhere in quietude. Sit straight, close your eyes, breathe easy, pay attention to the sensations in your body, listen to all the sounds around, become aware, and you will feel silence.

- Take a break from talking every once in a while. It stops your mind from all its activities as it does not have to respond to anyone. It makes one a better person, a better listener and yes, also makes a bit more wise.

- Drop everything and just be! No using of any senses, just breathe and be!