The Sound of Silence

If you want to disconnect to reconnect, January is the perfect time to banish the noise and embrace silence. Indoors reading a book by an open fire or staring into the flames or outside on a windswept hill or in a forest clearing as the snowdrops poke through the leaf litter.

The benefits of silence are manifold – reducing stress, improving mental clarity, enhancing creativity, helping emotional regulation and increasing self awareness. Curating even a few moments of silence in your day will, over time, significantly improve your mood, productivity and sense of wellbeing.

I learnt the benefits of silence back in my childhood. There were opportunities for silent contemplation in every day – prayers in church or school assembly, waiting to be picked up after hockey practice, quietly getting on with the exercises in a school textbook, sitting on the bus where your only option was to read a book or stare out of the window. These quiet spaces have disappeared or have been filled with noise. It’s time to reclaim those moments.

Experiment this week by actively embracing silence for yourself and for your children. If you have young children you could try the Montessori Silence Game Dial down the ambient noise in the house for teens as a start and then engage them in finding ways to build small, silent activities into your home life. If I want to spend time with my family, I just light the wood burner or firepit and gradually, unprompted, they will come together. Often we’ll sit in companionable silence. Learning to be present with our own inner dialogue makes us better at being present for others and therein lies stronger relationships.