Want to reduce stress and increase focus? Be silent.

Silence.

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I almost want to give more space just so you can get a feel for the impact it can have on you (which will be covered in this post).

For now, I just want you to reflect on how you feel about silence. Does it make you anxious? Do you feel like you need to “fill the void”? Do you embrace it? Do you seek it out?

Silence is powerful and beneficial in so many ways. Let’s take a work setting. How many times to you find yourself mindless moving from one task to another or managing multiple things at once? I’ve been there I call my brain in these situations “crackly brain” because it feels like my synapses are crackling. However, if I can remove myself, for even 5 minutes, and just sit I find that silence can reduces mental chatter, allowing for clearer thinking and improved concentration plus help filter out distractions, making it easier to prioritize and solve problems effectively. Of course, the big challenge is getting the mind to stop and to just focus on silence (no problem-solving while quiet!).

Another benefit of silence is helping to find emotional equilibrium. By stepping away from external noise (or a child that is just about push the button that send you over an edge), by stepping away and engaging in a few moments of silence you become more aware of your emotions. Silence provides space to process feelings, helping reduce stress, anxiety, and emotional reactivity.

Some of you who engage with this channel practice meditation. However, how many of you mediate to just silence? If you do this, you probably find that silence fosters deeper introspection and you are better able to identify egoic thought versus intuitive feeling.

By practicing silence, you become more attuned to what others are saying, enhancing your capacity to listen actively. This is something I have been focused on personally so that I can listen more intentionally AND actually hear what someone is saying to do a better job of supporting.

Do you personally find that silence is something you value a lot or perhaps struggle to embrace at times?

Researched using ChatGPT.