The Power of Silence
How many of you fall asleep to the sound of the television? Do you have to have the radio on in the car or the fan blowing in your house? Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you can’t sit in silence? Does it bring you anxiety? Make you feel nervous? Why does that happen?
When we sit in silence, meditating for example, it allows us to hear. We hear, not with our ears, but with our mind. Imagine you are out of town, driving a rental car down a windy road. Your 3 kids are sitting in the back seat of the car (you have 3 kids in this story – just go with it). The music is on the radio and your kids are singing and talking and laughing. You suddenly realize that your GPS stopped working miles ago and you have no idea if you’re on the right path. You start to panic a little as you look around and you decide to pull over to figure out where you are. What’s the next thing you do? You turn off the music. You ask your kids to quiet down. Why? To help you concentrate. Meditation is no different.
We can’t deal with what’s going on in our heads and our hearts if there is constant chatter. We’re not truly present if there is always noise because our attention is split, whether we realize it, or not. Meditation allows us to work through the anxiety and stress, one breath at a time.
Several months ago, I participated in a full-day, 8-hour, meditation. There were a few breaks throughout the day but I tried to maintain silence even through the breaks. It’s not surprising that I became extremely agitated by this exercise. I was snapping at my children and by the next day had sores throughout my entire mouth. The stress of sitting in silence, and dealing with…myself, actually manifested physically in my body. This phenomenon is not uncommon. Many experience mental or emotional stress that causes their body physical pain - pain that many cam’t seem to explain. The mind-body connection is real. If we are hoping to truly live a healthy life, we have to treat our minds as well as we treat our bodies. And sitting in silence helps us do just that. It’s the way we tap into our soul’s wisdom and discover pain we didn’t know was there. Once we dig up our pain we can start to heal it.
You might be wondering how to start a meditation practice. I’ve prepared some guided meditations for you on my meditation page. You can choose a 5-minute meditation if that’s all the time you have or a longer one. You’ll notice the benefits over time so be patient. Visit as often as you like in the privacy of your own space.
How are you doing on your journey to wellness? Comment below and let me know how I can help you!
In gratitude and peace,
