Can you recall a time when you woke in the middle of the night to the absolute silence of your bedroom?  Perhaps the stillness seemed palpable, mystical and even sacred. Maybe there was something Divine in that moment of absolute quiet that affirmed that you too are divine and more than a physical shell. Experiencing this external silence so deeply is a hint of what our spirit craves internally. Absolute outer silence is the gateway to the magical and transformative internal silence.

The external world of music, news, conversation and mind-chatter can be spiritually deafening. The good news is that silence mutes this unhealthy bombardment to allow the spirit to speak and be heard. It is in silence that you’ll hear the whisper of your spirit nudging you toward your personal truth. Your greatest advocate and guide, your spirit, spills out truth, information and guidance when you allow for quiet in your daily life.

When life is full of positive momentum and optimistic thoughts, silence is a wonderful way to steep yourself in reflection and appreciation. However, when we are faced with important decisions or some form of adversity, quiet is a tool to reveal profound and transformative insights. Silence can energize and open you to creative thoughts and myriad solutions that would have otherwise been engulfed in the white-noise of life. Ignorance finds it very difficult to exist in silence. The truth, when it is allowed to freely flow, will most often emerge from calm and quiet, not disorder, noise and a frenetic pace.

Practicing Silence:

• Meditate: You don’t have to be a Buddhist monk to enjoy a meditative practice. Wake up ten to 30 minutes earlier and designate a comfortable spot to sit upright as you breathe mindfully. Simply sit in silence and when thoughts pop into your mind, acknowledge them and then let them be.
• Be Still: When you awake in the morning, before rising choose to lay still. Put two fingers on your neck pulse-point and keep your eyes closed. Take a minute to feel your body pulsing life through your body.  Drink up the truth that nature sustains your life and all life on its own. You don’t have to “do” anything for your heart to beat. The same force that beats your heart turns an acorn into a mighty oak tree and rotates the earth on its axis as it makes its yearly trip around the sun. Tap into that extraordinary divine force already housed within you working its magic.
• Try a car ride without media. A trip to the grocery store or into work without music, traffic reports or a phone conversation will have you arriving in a much greater “Zen-like” state. You will be more grounded, live with greater intention and likely enjoy a lower heart rate too.
• Create a sacred sleep space. Just as you have software to protect your computer from viruses and spy-ware, be vigilant with setting boundaries with your sleep space. Your bedroom should be a haven from the outside world. Using a laptop in bed with the TV on is a sort of energetic assault on the spirit at the close of the day. A beautiful sleep space is as much about the energy of your bedroom as it is about your linens, pillows and lighting.
• Create a daily ritual for yourself that requires silence. You may sit in silence with your coffee in a sunny breakfast room while you make your must-do list for the day. Perhaps you can allow for 15 minutes of peaceful reflection before bed to write in a journal. Try journaling a list of five things that occur each day for which you are grateful.
• Reconnect with nature. Go for a walk on a nature-infused path without music or your cell phone. Seek to find a spot where you can turn 360 degrees and see nothing man-made.
• Engage in thankful thinking. Use silence as a time to accentuate the positive in your life. Coupling gratitude with silence turns up the volume on those things in your life.

Create a daily ritual that includes silence and insist that you allow time to implement it everyday. After all, your intuition illuminates your personal truth in the gaps between your thoughts. Your physical body sends you signals in moments of silence. Your ego is muted and your spirit speaks though a megaphone when quiet is allowed to blanket your conscious mind. Like beautiful music, silence must be heard to be enjoyed.  

Rena M. Reese, M.S. is the author of several inspirational titles, founder of Soul Salon International, radio host and instructor at The Mindfulness Center in Bethesda, Md. In her latest book, The Soul Salon, readers enjoy what would equate to a year of personal life coaching. For more information about her books or speaking, please visit www.SoulSalonInternational.com.

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