Silence as Mental Health
In a fast-paced society filled with stimuli, silence has become a precious commodity. Not only is it hard to find amid the noise, but we also tend to avoid it when we do have the chance, seeing it as a threat. Therefore, upon returning home after a tiring day, our instinct is to fill the silence with TV, music, social media, or binge-watching series. We seem to have an addiction to words, voices, noises, and sounds, to the extent that we fill any conversational gaps with pointless chatter to avoid silence. We can't even stand a silent elevator ride without making some small talk.
Silence is uncomfortable for us in the West. We crave external stimuli because we fear contact with our inner stillness, making it difficult to listen to ourselves, recognize our feelings, and thus get to know ourselves beyond just our names, likes, and dislikes.
My Own Experience with Silence
A few years ago, I had a fascinating and revealing experience. While in India, I decided to join a twelve-day silent retreat in the mountains. Upon arrival, I had to sign a document committing to complete silence, with the understanding that breaking this rule meant leaving the retreat without prior notice. We were about fifty people from various nationalities, eating together, sharing rooms, learning, and meditating spaces. During this time, there were deep looks and not a single word.
Being silent for so long was challenging at first but became a choice over time. I had never achieved such a deep connection with my inner self; it was a strange, very strange sensation that transformed into a calm and tremendously healing serenity.
I had never achieved such a deep connection with my inner self; it was a strange, very strange sensation that transformed into a calm and tremendously healing serenity.
I became aware of how dazed we lived when I returned to the city after twelve days of pure peace and absolute contemplation. What used to feel natural to me became deafening upon reentry. However, when we're in the midst of it, we don't realize how much we need silence to tune in with the depths of the periphery, with the serenity of the Essence lying behind the multitude of voices nesting in our heads. Our mind, which in the East is called "the madwoman of the house," never stops giving orders, criticizing us, judging others, drawing conclusions, and sentencing. This is stress; it exhausts us and overwhelms us, and we don't even realize how disturbing it can be. Living in the mind is like having a mansion and always staying in the same room, forgetting that we also have a body and a heart, which we visit very little.
Silence as a Daily Practice
The word "retreat" suggests withdrawing from external stimuli. We don't need to escape to the Himalayas; we can practice silence at home as a daily ritual after a tiring day. In the East, many practices promote mental health and inner wisdom connection, including contentment, gratitude, and silence. It's about finding the time, space, and will to make it a habit. In the West, we need to empty ourselves of the overload of information. Silence is a hygiene practice in a world full of noise pollution and a preventive measure for maintaining health.
Practising silence involves dedicating time, space, and willingness to make it a daily habit to ease mental chaos and confusion.
To lighten the mind of so many thoughts, to let our ears rest from opinions, criticisms, and sermons, and to refrain from filling silences with words, is to give ourselves a chance to discover that behind the silence, which we often fear, there's a space of stillness, calm, and serenity if we're willing to go beyond the strangeness it initially causes us. Silence as a systematic practice is what makes it possible to establish a conscious communication with the part of the Whole that dwells within us, with the wisdom of the intelligence of our unconscious that guides us. When this does not happen, what we do is desperately seek external references. Almost compulsively, we consult, ask, and seek opinions. The result? We get much more confused than clarified while feeling increasingly disconnected and alienated because we seek outside the answers that lie within.
Silence, as a systematic practice, enables us to establish a conscious communication with the part of the Whole that resides within us, with the wisdom and intelligence of our unconscious, which guides and provides us with the answers we often hope to find outside.
It also happens that sometimes it's more comfortable to follow someone else's opinion than to take on the responsibility of listening to our answers. Silence invites us to look at ourselves honestly, and to many, this is terrifying. We prefer to disguise what makes us uncomfortable, look the other way, or raise the voices of the mind so as not to listen to the inner music that speaks to us from within and tells us truths that sometimes hurt.
Those who dare to inhabit their silence access a meditative state in which it is possible to observe thoughts from a distance, reflect on life's events with full awareness, play down dramas, and calm heightened emotions. Why? Because in a state of calm and stillness, the same things are appreciated differently. At the brain level, a different chemistry is generated than that of the daily whirlwind, allowing for more creative and astute neural connections. From this place, the choices and decisions we make will not only be smarter but also more authentic because they derive from open communication with our inner selves.
Sometimes it's more comfortable for us to follow someone else's opinion than to take the responsibility of listening to our own answers. Silence invites us to look at ourselves honestly, and for many, this is terrifying. We prefer to cover up what's uncomfortable, look away, or raise the voices in our minds to avoid hearing the inner music that speaks to us from within, telling us truths that sometimes hurt.
When we move from the external world to the internal world more frequently, our behaviours and attitudes become more balanced and regulated because they have been sifted through the filter of consciousness and the wisdom of reflection in moments of calm.
If words are the river, silence is the ocean. Powerful, immense, deep, and boundless, where, by immersing ourselves, we find all the answers.
When you find peace within silence and can free yourself from the onslaught of thoughts, you discover a place you will seek to return to whenever you can. Making silence a habit, speaking only when necessary, and staying informed without becoming overwhelmed is a hygiene practice to implement to protect our mental and emotional health from so much external disturbance and excitement.
Make silence your best refuge and your inner self your greatest shelter.