This week I have been thinking a lot about silence and how it gives rise to a peace within.  According to the Roman Catholic religious sister and missionary who lived most of her life in India, Mother Teresa has sublimely stated the following, “In silence, we will find new energy and true unity.  Silence gives us a new outlook on everything.  We need silence to be able to touch souls.”  If you would like to read further, I have included excerpts of her book In the Heart of the World (Copyright 1997) by New World Library where she writes about the silence of the eyes, ears, tongue, heart and mind.

As she further elaborates, silence is found in nature, where trees, flowers and grass grow in silence while the stars, sun and the moon move in silence.  This universe that is eons and ages older than us regenerates and retracts in silence.  Human civilization has been in existence for approximately 12,000 years considering the Neolithic Revolution as the start of human culture towards agriculture and settlements.  We believe that since we are so progressive and advanced that we know better, we know everything and we have all the answers.  However, the age of the earth and the universe are approximately 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years and 13.798±0.037 billion years respectively.  So shouldn’t we give some credit to what the earth or the universe might be telling us.  How do we listen to these entities that try to sustain us and work in our benefit?  The answer is to practice silence.

In silence, you will see the solutions to problems that have been plaguing you for a while.  In silence, you will hear the voice that has been trying to tell you what is best for you.  In silence, you will feel the energy and the positive vibrations move through you.  In silence, your speech will finally take rest so that your thought process can take over.  In silence, you will finally touch your own soul and those of others.  The unity of your senses, to your mind and heart will be felt as you practice silence.

And guess what, it is not that hard to practice.  The best thing to do is to take five minutes out of your busy 24 hour day to remain in silence.  This doesn’t just mean that you stop speaking.  It means silence in your movement, in your surroundings, in your thoughts and to start actively listening.  It is best to practice silence either in the morning so that your day improves many folds OR to practice silence at night as you go to sleep as it works as a form of meditation yielding peace.  So to practice silence, find a quiet place anywhere; turn off your phones, computers, televisions, radios and other distractions.  That’s it, you are practicing silence.  Let your thoughts come but don’t react.  Don’t say anything or move, just be in this stillness.  Once you start, you will be addicted and you will move on to longer periods.

The acoustic ecologist, Gordon W. Hempton who records the steadily vanishing natural soundscapes says, “Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything.”  When you practice this form of silence, you will finally hear, feel, see or touch what was present for you all the time but in the noise found in your environment inside and outside, you could not make sense of it or could not experience it.

As we start the new week, March 16 to 22, 2015 is Brain Awareness Week (BAW).  It is a global campaign to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research.  By practicing silence, each of us will be contributing to this wonderful campaign and important research as we will realize the full power and potential of our minds and hearts.

Author: Anjali Chudasama