Top 21 Outstanding Benefits of Silence

The amounts of conversation and distractions have increased tremendously throughout the years, especially in this era where accessing the information is so easy.

People are engaging in multiple modes of connectivity all at once these days. They talk to their friends, using one hand to scroll their phone and check updates on social media, another hand holding their daughter, and at the same time, walking to a grocery to store to buy food for dinner.

It is mind-boggling to imagine how many conversations and distractions can happening all at the same time. Do you know that according to National Safety Council, there are 1.6 million driving accidents due to distractions from cell phone each year?

This is why it is important to foster silence in your everyday life. In fact, plenty of studies have been conducted on the need for silence and science has also proved that being in silence each day has many advantages, and below are the top 21 outstanding benefits of silence.

1. You Become Calmer

One of the most important benefits of being in silence is that it helps you become calmer. Studies have shown that people who consistently spend time alone and in solitude tend to be calmer.

They will become less susceptible to negative thinking or influenced by negative emotions. When you are always at peace and at a state of calmness, you can see your surroundings and notice what works and what doesn’t in your life. Hence, people who practice in being silence tend to be more successful than others who don’t.

2. Boost Your Intuition

One way to develop your intuition and gut feeling is through silence. When you are all alone, you are actually not really “alone”. What happens is that you will strike a conversation with yourself. In other words, you will engage in self-talk.

And it is your self-talk that will boost your intuition because you are listening to yourself. The more you spend time alone and be in silence, the more self-talk you will experience and as a result, the better your intuition. Gut feeling and intuition are the results of self-trust. And self-trust comes from believing in yourself through your own thinking. And this is why silence can make you more intuitive.

3. Understand Yourself Better

Lao Tzu has a powerful and meaningful quote regarding understanding yourself:

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

People who manage to accomplish extraordinary results in life are people who understand themselves better. They know their potential, their strength, and their passion, and thus, they manage to utilize their characters to maximize their results in life.

When you understand yourself better, you will know your strength and your weakness. As a result, you can better leverage on what you do best to produce amazing success in life. So spend time and be in silence to understand yourself more.

4. Improve Awareness

How can you know if what you do is correct and if you are traveling on the right path? You cannot unless you have the awareness to find out what you do is correct. And when you are in silence, it improves your awareness.

And when you are aware of what is happening around you and whether your life is working, you can then make a conscious adjustment to living a life that you have always desired. However, it all starts from practicing silence to improve your awareness.

There are too many noises and distractions in this world. You have to transcend and rise above the noise to discover yourself and to improve your awareness to do better in life.

5. Taps Into Your Creativity

Studies have shown that when you are alone and in the state of silence, you will engage more with your mind. You will be talking to yourself and answering questions that ask yourself, as a result, you will tap into your creativity and use your brain more often.

People who spend more time alone tend to be more creative. It is said that Albert Einstein discovered the theory of relativity through his imagination of riding the sunbeam while he was alone daydreaming in the hillside.

The same went for Isaac Newton. It is said that he was taking a rest, in silence and all by himself sitting under an apple tree in the garden. When out of sudden, an apple fell on his head and that made him into discovering gravity.

So spend more time alone, be with yourself, and talk more to yourself. You can boost your creativity when you are engaged in your own imagination.

6. Lower Your Stress and Pressure

Besides improving your creativity, research has also shown that when people are in silence, they are able to lower their level of stress and pressure.

This is why doctors suggest people take a walk in a garden when they are experiencing stress and pressure from work and life. Do you know that stress and pressure from our daily life have increased tremendously and is at an alarming rate now?

You probably have read news on people who commit suicide because they cannot take the stress from their work. So spend time by yourself and be in solitude to lower your stress regularly.

7. Mental Detoxification

Do you know that when you are in silence, you can get rid of all negative thoughts and energy? There are just too many distractions and negative influences from everything including the negative people you talk to, the ever-buzzing social media that requires your attention, and your demanding work.

You need to go through mental detoxification by practicing being in silence. This is why meditation has quickly gained its popularity lately. Meditation is a great way to practice silence and get rid of all mental illness.

8. Have Better Patience

Studies have shown that people who are always being in silence tend to have more patience. This is extremely important in today’s fast-moving world. Imagine getting stuck in traffic congestion, most people easily get angry and start to show through their reckless act of driving.

However, people who always spend time in solitude will have better patience in dealing with their fast-moving surrounds such as traffic jam and crazy workload. When you are alone and in silence, you will feel calm and at peace. And when you are calm and at peace, you will have better patience.

9. Decreases Muscle Tension

Feeling pain due to muscle tension because you are sitting in your office facing the computer screen for long hours? All you need to do is to be in silence. Take a walk in the garden, sit quietly, practice meditation, and try to be in solitude.

These practices can decrease your muscle tension and restore your blurry eyesight. This is why meditation has a lot of healing effects because it requires you to be in silence and be in calm and relax mode. When you take in a deep breath, stay in silence and relax, you will feel the tension goes away almost immediately.

10. Broadens Your Perspective

Yes, being in silence can broaden your perspective. Albert Einstein once said, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

The practice of being in silence and in solitude allows you to see the situation from a different perspective. Instead of looking at a problem from the outside, you are able to see the problem arising from your own thoughts.

This will put you in the position where you are responsible for the problem. And when you are responsible for what has happened, you will be in control and able to change the situation.

11. Less Energy Wasted

D you know that your energy level is just like the battery level for your phone? Your energy is fully charged when you have a good sleep and in the morning after you wake up. And as you go through your day, working, making decisions, and taking action, you use your energy.

This is why by afternoon most people will feel tired and sleepy because they used up most of their energy in the morning. And one great way to recharge your energy is to be in silence.

When you are alone and in silence, you use less energy because you are in a relaxed state and there are fewer distractions. Thus, if you want to be more productive, try to spend a few minutes to be in silence every day.

12. Helps in Discovering Your Purpose

Most people these days have no idea what they want to do in their lives, this is especially obvious among the young people. They are often distracted by other people’s opinion and they neglect their own inner calling.

However, when you are in silence, you are listening to your inner voice. This is an amazing way to discover what you truly want to accomplish in your life. You will discover the real purpose of your life and what you want to do.

When you are in silence, you shut yourself out from the noise from the outside and you are able to spend more time with yourself.

13. Improves Focus and Concentration

Do you know that one of the benefits of silence is that you can improve your focus and concentration on what you do in life?

You will be less prone to distraction and the noise from the outside when you are in silence. As a result, you are able to focus better and the work at your hands or concentrate better at any goal that you are trying to pursue.

14. Grow Better Relationships

Studies have also shown that being in silence can promote building better relationships with other people in your life. Of course, this is not to say that you should stay in silence and be alone for long hours.

It simply means that by calming yourself, being with yourself, and developing better patience on a regular basis, you can handle your relationship with others in a more efficient manner.

15. Develops Willpower

Willpower is an important factor that will determine how successful you can in life. People who lack willpower tend to give up on things they do quickly, they have less self-discipline and can’t seem to focus on what they desire.

On the other hand, people who have better willpower have more self-discipline, able to focus better and are less likely to quit or give up on what they want. And being in silence helps develop your willpower.

16. Becomes Better in Decision-making

If you always find it difficult and annoying to think about what to eat for dinner, what movie to watch or what you should do over the weekend, you have an issue with decision-making.

Research has shown that when you are in solitude, you will be able to listen to yourself better. It is not your indecision that makes the decision-making process difficult, but it is your self-doubt and fear to express your thoughts that stop most people from moving forward.

When you stop, be in silence and take time to listen to yourself, you will discover the real answer to what you want. Hence, you can make a better decision and move forward in life.

17. Mind Ages at A Slower Rate

Silence can grow your brain and slow the rate of aging. A study on mice on the effects of ambient noise, white noise, pup calls and silence has shown that two hours of silence each day can lead to the development of new brain cells.

And when your brain is growing and engaging with more activities, it will age slower. This is why silence is important to your mental health. And when your brain is engaging and experiencing growth, it can prevent mental illness such as depression and Alzheimer’s.

18. Cure Headaches and Migraines

Have you ever felt headaches and migraines due to heavy workload and stress from what you experienced each day? And the problem seems to go away after you sit quietly and calm down?

This is another benefit you can get from being in silence. When you slow down, relax and are in silence, you feel calm, at peace, and your muscles will be in a relaxed state. As a result, the headache and migraine will be gone. Your breathing slows, your heart rate drops and you will enter in a calmer state that gives you a deep rest when you are entering a silent mode.

19. Brings Spirit, Mind, and Body in Harmony

Silence also brings balance. It balances your natural rhythms and brings your spirit, mind, and body in harmony. Most people tend to always be living in a hurry and they forget to spend the time to nurture their spiritual self.

Sometimes, in order to go further, you need to stop and reflect on your life and what is happening around you. In order to go further, you need to gain a better perspective and make sure you are traveling on the right journey.

If you are climbing a ladder, make sure it is leaning against the right wall so that you will get to the right place. The same goes in life, make sure you are going in the right direction that brings your spirit, mind, and body in coherence.

20. Live in the Moment

Do you know that practicing silence and solitude allow you to live in the moment at a higher state? Living in the moment is often referred to as mindfulness. It is a state where you are active, open and put intentional attention on the present.

When you become mindful, you realize that you are not your thoughts, you become the observer of your thoughts from moment to moment without judging them.

And if you spend time alone, be in silence and solitude on a regular basis, you will be able to engage with mindfulness more often.

21. Attain Higher Level of Emotional Stability

Another very important benefit of being in silence is that it promotes a higher level of emotional stability. People will be less likely to get angry easily, they will become prone to the attack of negative emotions, and achieve more mental stability.

In your everyday lives, sensory input is being thrown at you from every angle. And when you get away from these sonic disruptions, your brain’s attention centers will have the opportunity to restore themselves. In other words, it is saying that silence restores your mental resources and makes you more stable.

This is very crucial in the modern world where distractions, stress, and pressure are always trying to get hold of you. You want to be more emotionally stable so that you can handle problems and make better decisions at life.

Give yourself a rest of silence every single day. There are many benefits you can get from practicing silence as what you have discovered above. You can be centered and still while everyone rushes around.

More importantly, silence has been used as a powerful tool in the lives of all those who find it truly is a wonderful life.

Find a quiet place where you can be undisturbed and comfortable. You can choose to sit or walk around as long as you are comfortable. And just stay in silence, focus on your breath and quiet your mind.

You don’t have to spend hours into being in silence each day. Just spend about 15 minutes a day will do. Of course, if you have more time, you can do it longer. After you have practiced silence for a few weeks, take note of the benefits coming to you.

References

• psychologytoday.com/blog/the-moment-youth/201312/the-importance-silence-in-noisy-world
• medicaldaily.com/5-health-benefits-being-silent-your-mind-and-body-396934
• ineedmotivation.com/100-benefits-of-meditation/
• claudiayoga.com/2013/12/19-benefits-of-sitting-in-silence/
• huffingtonpost.com/entry/silence-brain-benefits_us_56d83967e4b0000de4037004
• top7business.com/?Enjoy-The-Silence:-The-7-Powers-of-Silence&id=716
• americaslifepurposecoach.com/2016/04/14/being-in-silence-7-benefits-to-unplugging-and-getting-quiet