Why is silence so frowned upon, either at work or at home? “What could be the matter?” they all ask, whereas all I wish is to be left alone to my own peaceful thoughts.

My mind when disturbed responds by saying, “There is nothing wrong.”

“All we want is not to participate in idle gossip or mindless chatter.”

“Space and silence is all we need at this particular time.”

Strangely, people are quite happy spreading mischievous rumours about an innocent soul, but they seem rather perturbed by one being silent in their presence.

Why do people suffer from “uncomfortable silences”?

Why should silences be uncomfortable?

Silence is blissful to me, and most comfortable.

Don’t they realise by me entering their world of superfluous communication I am neglecting what is most important to me – and that is self-introspection.

Self-introspection is what makes me feel at ease with being in my own company.  I neither feel alone nor have an empty void to fill by talking. Read more…

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”

~ Epictetus

How observant the sagacious Epictetus must have been to come up with that quote, no matter how obvious the fact that human beings physiologically have a couple of ears and a singular mouth.

I am more interested in the hidden depth behind the stoic’s quote in terms of the wisdom and lesson that can be learned towards self-improvement.

We must dive headfirst into the ocean of silence and go deep down to discover the art of listening – something which most of us are ignorant of because of the need to express ourselves vocally to people about what we think we know.

Read more…