Is Silence Really Luxurious?
There are some people who tend to be on the defense, almost all the time. Are you someone who finds yourself being too critical of others or on a constant defense to the world around you? This usually happens when you carry doubts towards your own life, and purpose. In a way, when you doubt who you really are, you actually lack clarity about your purpose in life. But skepticism can fuel further towards a regretful life (Bhagat Kabir, Guru Granth Sahib) and you are not here to live a regretful life. You can choose not to.
I want you to realize how talented; resilient, vibrant and wise you are. I want everyone to live from their Inner Wisdom; the Greater Silence within.
How to do that and why should you consider it?
If you are passing through days being on the defense or being offended about your choices, your life or something you believe in, then you can benefit from what I have to say here today. Have you ever heard the phrase “Silence is luxurious” ? What if I told you that the Silence mentioned here has nothing to do with being verbally quiet?
Stop butting heads with other people or even your own limiting thoughts. Instead, mute your offensive and obsessive thoughts and ask the Greater Silence within:
How would You respond to this?
How would You approach this?
The challenge is to silence the years of conditioning of your mind and thoughts.
Speaking in coherence to your Inner Silence is the true luxury in life.
The fast-moving world demands you to constantly give it a piece of your mind. But you probably find yourself in a perpetual hurry to prove something in this world (and to the world). You may know this if you are constantly hurrying to get to somewhere:
Hurrying to be a better version of yourself.
Hurrying to be better than others.
Hurrying to get the next promotion.
Hurrying to go on vacation.
Hurrying to be happier.
Hurrying to be wealthier.
Hurrying to change your status from single to married.
Hurrying to stay busy so you can avoid facing feeling left out and alone.
You get the picture.
All this hurrying takes a lot of your energy, which you could utilize to manifest more abundance into your lives. The answer lies in tuning into this Silence.
How can you start turning into it?
By practicing Meditative Awareness.
Devoting a designated time to meditate in the morning and in the evening is great, but meditation does not need to be a thing that can only be accessed through a time-bound break from the daily life. In fact, practicing to be in a meditative awareness throughout your day, during daily life tasks ( not when you take a break from it), can help you be more at peace and joy. Life responds strongly in your favour when you intentionally live from this Inner Operating System; some would call the Universe; Higher Consciousness; Higher Self; Creator, or God.
Here is some guidance to get you started:
1. Silence your purposeless speech.
You are given the power to communicate. The ability to communicate serves important purposes in life. Silence using it meaninglessly. Whatever your mode of communication, before you initiate it, ask yourself:
What purpose am I pursuing through this?
How would it ultimately serve me and those involved?
What am I trying to gain from it?
This should be helpful for you in arguments with others or yourself, or in any contradicting debates.
2. Mastering your relationship with your Sensory Nervous System.
The grand prize of human life is the human body. It really is a masterpiece, crafted carefully and intricately to experience life in different ways - including through the sensory system. Mastering your senses can yield purpose, direction, discipline, meaning and flow in your life. I am talking here about practicing awareness and alignment with not only your five popular senses of vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch – but also your other senses like:
Your vestibular sense (movement, direction and acceleration for physical balance). Sense of thermoception (temperature). Sense of proprioception (awareness of your body and its posture), Sense of pain (nociception), Sense of sexual stimulation, and other internal senses AKA interoception (any sense from within the body e.g. hunger).
Building mindful relationship with your sensory system involves maintaining a healthy balance of its usage. Once again, the sensory system has been installed within the human body for important functions required for a meaningful life, full of purpose.
A mastered relationship with your sensory system involves not only listening to its guidance in life, but also attentively fulfilling its needs. It also involves silencing any excessive or obsessive use of any of the senses. Doing so, will open the door to an intuitive silence, which will protect you from fear-based, doubtful and addiction-based living.
3. Release rigidity and welcome flexibility in your speech for life.
Emotional attachment to anything defies its purpose. Emotional attachment fuels rigidity.
A rigid life practice (even a rigid spiritual practice) which ignores your responsibility towards your life and family warrants counsel with the Greater Silence within. Speak, love, connect, and live from a place of meditation.
Meditation guides you into life-flow, and rigidity blocks it.
Discipline is full of purpose but when it rejects a way for flexibility, it stops serving its purpose. Using mindful discretion is a way to silence rigidity.
4. Silence your ego and the misbeliefs it makes so convincing.
Bypassing your ego’s opinions and suggestions by attentively observing it instead, is meditative awareness. Practicing this throughout your day is silencing the ego and everything else it has you convinced of.
Respond to your day by neither reacting nor emotionally attaching to it. Observe. Acknowledge. Pause. Breathe. Discern a response.
Your breath is your biggest tool in this meditative awareness – use it! When your mind and your breath dance in harmony, guiding each other through your day, you end up saving a lot of your precious life energy. This is when you start to maintain your Spiritual Silence.
Spiritual Silence allows for all the abundance, purpose, and meaning to come into your life. It’s the Truth of life; the Ultimate Remedy. So, when you face doubts, objection, or simply feel like passing judgement to yourself or another – come back to this Silence, and let it guide you.
Harjot Mann, MD
Self-Mastery and Leadership Coach