The power of silence
- January 17, 2019
- Posted by: MAYURI
- Category: Articles
The power of silence
Human beings have a strong urge to talk. We like telling others things that we think are important. We like advising. We like describing things. We like complaining, explaining and in general letting others know what is happening in our lives.
But there comes a time in life when nobody wants to listen, but all want to talk!
I will quote a personal experience…
For 36 odd years, the only persons who listened to me were my students. Who, poor things had no choice! I must admit that while teaching the subject, I did tell them a lot of things I thought were important. Thankfully, my subject was highly suitable for doing so. I taught human development and family studies. I know for sure the young women enjoyed my classes because I always gave a real life example, and most often about events from my own life. After all, I had a copy right to my own life and not other’s. This way, I could let out my great need for talking and telling about things, my opinions, my understanding of the world around me.
Alas…no longer do I have that captive audience!
That is when the importance of silence is realised.
Silence is often more powerful than a lot of emphatic, effective talk.
Why do I say silence is powerful?
- It helps you calm down…when nobody is listening you tend to take a deep breath, and calm yourself.
- It improves inner dialogue by leaps and bounds…you will become very adept at talking to yourself, which in turn has many benefits.
- The most important benefit is, it improves introspection…very necessary if we want to survive in a sane manner in this chaotic world.
- It develops patience in you.
- It improves and polishes your ideas by fine tuning them… in the inner dialogue, one can manipulate ones vocabulary and express complex ideas to oneself quite comfortably.
- It can improve one’s sense of humour too
- Silence saves you from much embarrassment…you don’t have to explain things again, clarify misunderstandings, defend yourself against somebody’s angst etc
- Silence adds an aura to your personality…you will become an enigma that others cannot understand or dissect.
- Silence helps you immensely to listen…listen carefully to a lot of talk around you… and it’s very educative.
- Listening helps understand people, their motives, their pet grouses and their reactions to everything around.
- In turn, you can mould your behaviour towards them in safe direction.
- Silence prevents you from getting into unpleasant situations…unnecessary arguments and accusations and that will save you a lot of heart burn.
- Silence is the best medicine for mental peace… when you don’t talk…you are not answerable for a lot of things!
- When we don’t talk, people will eventually stop pestering us for advice, or listening to their problems…
- When we don’t talk, we will not give away what all is happening in our life…this in itself is great since we will not get unsolicited advice or opinions.
- Silence helps by improving inner peace eventually.
With so many advantages, why are human’s not practising it? Why do we look out for audience all the time to talk to?
Because it is hard to practice…easier said than done!
What can we do to practice silence?
- First we must practice listening… when you learn to be a good listener, you will automatically talk less
- Must constantly remember that we don’t have to have an opinion about everything under the sun…and there is no need to tell all what you think of x y z
- Recall the number of times you wasted your breath giving valuable advice that was not taken…you will realize there is no point in talking and advising
- Realise you are not terribly interesting person for others to be interested in all that you want to say…I know, that hurts ego…but it’s very important to realise this
- Stop as soon as you realise your audience has diverted their attention to something else and is not paying attention to what you are saying
- Now this can happen innumerable number of times…so pay attention to being ignored…then automatically you will stop talking.
- It is important to realise that when we talk too much, others sit on judgement…they can claim to understand our nature and behaviour, personality, personal preferences, life events and so on! We give away a lot of information unconsciously when we talk too much.
- Gauge your audience…not everybody is interested in what you think is important. Talking to persons who are interested in the specific topic is fruitful…but not with others who do not give a hoot to that topic! Silence automatically will have to follow.
- Gauge your audience for another reason too…what kind of talk may aggravate the situation into an argument and eventually a fight! Avoid talking completely in such situations.
- Finally do realise that when you do not talk but watch people and listen…your inner world expands; there is amusement, happiness and a sheer contentment that you are on your own and nobody knows what makes you tic!
Can we all try to talk less? How much better the world would be without the braggers, the persons who revel in soliloquies, those who constantly give free advice and opinions about everything under the sun and those who whine about the world around!
good one…silence is not always good…at times it helps not always…if we are silent for what we hear then nothing happens…some people are good in talking and some are good in listening silently…but that doesn’t mean you should remain silent for ever…hope this is what I feel…
Wonderful perspective on silence, ma’am. Loved it!!
By listening, you get to know what ticks the other person!!
However, the key is in balancing between talking and being silent!! Which is hard!!
Easy access to internet has a great influence on us to acquire knowledge or information. With this people react more than respond to any situation or an issue or a conversation. This is what I observed ,hence it’s good we practice little bit of silence. Good article maam.
Being your student I have enjoyed your words and truely relished them. Thank God that you did not opt for silence in those days madam otherwise I would not have a large collection of wonderful words that I still remember and admire. As you said madam silence works miracles many a times. Because there are many situations where we later regret for talking a lot.
Very Nice Madam
Ma’m your classes are the most interesting among all other classes because you share the practical experiences and real world situations.. I used to liked to listen to your classes continuously without getting bored..Yes Mam silence is most important in many situations, if we blabber all the time nobody listens to us though they seem to be listening..few people don’t say things in short and unnecessarily make it a big story to tell a small information..People and situations are powerless unless we react to their talk…intrapersonal communication is most important than interpersonal..