Silence is golden

   

         I’m not quiet very often.  I talk a lot (and very quickly, or so I’ve been told).  In fact, I think the only times I’m any good at keeping my mouth shut and my thoughts to myself are when I meet someone new and my innate shyness creeps in or when I have some sort of illness that prevents me from speaking.

            This week, I am experiencing the latter and for 2 days I’ve had to really decide what words are worth enduring physical pain to utter.  It doesn’t happen very often but when it does, it’s always such an intriguing experience to be virtually speechless.  It can be frustrating, for sure, to be incapable of communicating my thoughts and feelings very easily but it can also be an amazing opportunity to really identify and understand my own thoughts.  And never do I listen and observe more, than when my mouth is closed and my voice silenced.

            Whether it’s from the overwhelming social inadequacy that comes with my bouts of shyness (which are much less frequent in adulthood than they were in childhood) or from the physical inability to speak due to laryngitis, a bad sore throat, or the painful recovery from extensive dental work (like I’m experiencing this week)- the lessons that come with silence speak loudly and profoundly in my life.

When my voice is stilled, my mind is usually more at peace too.  When I don’t (or can’t) rush to speak my own mind, I see and hear so much more of what’s going on around me and what’s going on in the minds of others.

Silence, I think, is the easiest path to humility but perhaps is the hardest one to take.  It’s so much easier to allow every thoughts and idea to spill forth from my mouth as soon as they formulate in my mind- sometimes before.  Incidentally, silence has never gotten me into trouble that I can remember, but speaking my mind, especially with little to no forethought, has caused more strife in my life than I care to admit.

It’s crazy, really, considering how much I usually like to talk, but I'm sort of enjoying this little reprieve from hearing my own voice.  It’s giving me a great chance to hear and, strangely enough, to see others much more clearly.  And it’s giving me a chance to see and be aware of my own thoughts better too.  

Silence is golden and with it comes not only greater peace and humility but, I think, greater understanding and wisdom as well.  Still, when my mouth is feeling better- there really is so much I’m anxious to say…….

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