Don’t Underestimate the Power of Silence

Most of us don't know - or even fear - quiet. A ritual of practising meditative silence is where you abstain from speaking for a set period each day.

Learning to be silent forces you to collect your thoughts, train your mind and helps you decide how you want to proceed into the day. It can bring inner peace and make you a better listener.

The rule is to keep complete silence for 60- minutes with no outside distractions. Keep a pen and journal at hand and a book you've meant to read for a while.

Break the hour up into three segments:

1. The first 30 minutes: Goal setting
2. The next 20 minutes: Learning and Growth
3. The last 10 minutes: Mindfulness

Break the first 30 minutes of complete silence up into 10-minute sets:

• The first 10 minutes is spent in writing your short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals.
• Dedicate the next 10 minutes to assessing your progress on the goals of the previous day.
• Use the last ten minutes to note unmet goals and consider why you have not met them.

During the second part of complete silence, start reading a book that teaches you new things or improves you.

• Spend the first 10 minutes reading a chapter of your book.
• Use the next 10 minutes to write down a summary of what you've just read.

Reading this way will allow for deeper thought and analysis and increase your short-term memory.

The last 10 minutes of silence is a grounding process. Use it for self-reflection.

The objective is to be present and pay attention to your emotions and what those feelings mean to you. This allows you to mindfully choose to stay out of negativity.