Silence: Our Faithful Friend

MichaelSunnarborg / May 25, 2016 Article, Image, Link / Leave a Comment

With all the noise we experience in our daily lives, finding something as simple as peace and quiet can be challenging—especially when our environments are busy.

And I’m not speaking only of our external environments, but also our internal environments: our thoughts.

Thoughts can be productive, but they can also be annoying and distracting. Learning to quiet our minds can help us to focus on the thoughts that serve us best and remind us that we have the power to choose what we pay attention to.

Creating moments of silence and solitude isn’t just a good idea; these havens of silence are essential to our health and well-being.

When used on a regular basis, silence is a powerful tool. Our minds and bodies were designed to be active and engaged, but they also require downtime for balance and refreshment.

In moments of silence, we reconnect with our inner guidance and gain insight, focus, and clarity. Silence can bring us into alignment with our thoughts and feelings and help us hear the quiet spiritual voice of our intuition within us.

Silence allows us to develop a deeper connection with ourselves.

In order to find silence, we may have to create a deliberate space for solitude—simple, but not always easy. In my experience, I’ve found at least 3 ways to connect with the benefits of silence:

Meditate, pray, or quiet your mind on a regular basis. In silence, we can quiet our thoughts, acknowledge our emotions, and relax into our bodies. We can calm our human doing and reconnect with our inner spirit—our human being. If you’re not finding time to engage in silent activities, try planning them. Set a side time to meditate, listen to calm music, or if you can’t get away from a noisy environment, go sit in your car for 10 or 15 minutes and just breathe.

Use silence for problem-solving and decision making. If you are unsure how to respond to a problem or situation, place the intention to resolve your problem by softening your stance, find a quiet space within you, and see what thoughts and feelings bubble up in response. Often, those nudges will lead us to our answers. By lowering the volume on the outside of us, we raise the volume on the inside.

Unplug intentionally from technology and social media. Many of us are on information overload, so take a tech break. Checking-in on social media and being glued to our phones and devices just takes us farther away from our center. One of my favorite tactics is to pretend that I’m on an airplane and listening to the flight attendant preparing us for take-off:

1. Put your phone in airplane mode
2. Stow your laptop (unplug from work)
3. Turn off all other electronic and portable devices
4. Please refrain from smoking (of course)

With silence, what feels like doing nothing is actually something—a break in the pattern of stress and momentum, especially when we’re feeling overwhelmed. Silence bring us back to ourselves.

So when you’re ready for personal realignment, take advantage of what’s already waiting for you—take a moment to breathe and connect with silence—our faithful friend.

Find more tips for connecting with yourself in 21 Days to Better Balance, or another book from my collection at michaelcreative.com/books

And after moments of silence when you’d like to sift through your thoughts and feelings, schedule a free 30-minute chat with me at connect.michaelcreative.com – we’re all in this together.

Photo: Lake Bemidji, Minnesota