Silence and solitude are essential if you want to create good things in your life. Unfortunately, unless you make a specific effort to spend time in silence and solitude, it is unlikely to happen often enough to make any meaningful difference to your wellbeing. It is therefore a good idea to schedule silence and solitude into your life as you would physical exercise or any other important activity.
When you spend time in silence and solitude, don’t distract yourself with activities such as reading, writing or even gardening. These activities might be physically silent, but they create just as much mental noise as watching television or playing computer games. Your aim should simply be to spend some time being aware of yourself and the world around you.
Initially, silence and solitude can make you feel uncomfortable. If you feel any discomfort when you avoid mental distractions then console yourself with the fact that your discomfort represents a particular need for silence and solitude. The more silence and solitude you experience, the less discomfort you will feel, and before long it will be the most natural thing in the world.
But why spend time in silence and solitude in the first place? The answer to that question is because you need to. When you spend time in silence, away from the distractions of activities and other people, you will gradually discover that your stress levels drop, that you can detach from the problems of daily life more easily, and that you can operate more effectively as a spiritual being that just happens to be in charge of a physical body. This will, in turn, make it easier for you to create good things without stress or struggle.
Such benefits won’t come along instantly, so if you are planning to sit in silence and solitude for fifteen minutes and expect a miracle after your first session you may well be disappointed. That said, fifteen minutes of silence and solitude a day is a good start, and if you can spend time in silence and solitude in a natural environment (be it your garden or by the ocean) then you will ultimately get a great deal out of the exercise.
The benefits of regular silence and solitude sessions are many and varied, but include less stress, more genuine happiness, the development of greater patience, a more detached perspective and – yes – a greater degree of control over your personal universe. Enjoy!
