Silence has a hidden power that can be rivalled by no other, but so many of us choose to ‘ignore’ it and never come to realise its true potential. Everywhere we go we’re surrounded by noise, whether it be colleagues chatting by the water cooler, a TV on in an empty room, or tapping on the desk while scrolling through our Social feeds.
Our whole lives we’re constantly surrounded by (and sometimes force fed) stimulus from every angle. It’s become almost second nature for us to attempt to fill silence with noise. We eat dinner in front of the TV, and when we’ve finished eating we flick through eBay on our phones searching for glow-in-the-dark trainers – because plain coloured shoes aren’t visually stimulating enough. What show are we watching again?
When we remove these distractions all we’re left with are our own thoughts, relying only on our internal dialogue for ‘information stimulation‘ to fill the void. Our ego, among other things, is temporarily quietened, and we start to notice the things that had been drowned out by the noise. Silence helps us to connect with and reflect upon our true nature; to hear our thoughts, to imagine, to truly listen to ourselves.
“The fool speaks, the wise man listens” – African Proverb
Picture this – a fast running river; the surface is noise – water crashing into rocks, debris floating along with the choppy current, but beneath the surface you have silence, even peace. Here the water flows smoothly, there isn’t debris swirling past and you can count all the pebbles along the riverbed. In the case of the ‘fool’, they haven’t yet worked out how to hold their breath. When presented with the challenge of swimming under water they quickly surface, gasping for air (and making a lot of noise in the process!). On the other hand, the ‘wise’ have learned how to hold their breath, to enjoy precious moments of peace and revel in the reality of silence, only surfacing for air when an authentic need arises.
So what I’d like you to do the next time your mind is consumed with the next episode of My Kitchen Rules, when you go to put the radio on in your car, or plug in your headphones;instead shoot for silence. Catch yourself in that thought, take a deep breath, clear your mind… and listen. You would be surprised how much wisdom and purpose you possess just beneath the churning distracted surface.
It’s all well and good to be a conversationalist, it’s a big part of what The Social Adviser is about – actually being Social. But are you being Social because you’re a voice that has something valuable to say and should be heard, or are you just adding to the noise?
As Baz always says, “If you want to get connected then you first need to be connected; to yourself.”