How the Beauty of Silence Transformed My Perspective

(shaker shakes) (mouse clicks) (bright music) Headspace Studios. (bright music continues) (soft music) Hi, it's Andy here, and welcome to Radio Headspace. And a Tuesday morning. A long time ago, I remember standing next to my teacher and looking at a sign on the wall. It said, "If you can't improve on silence then don't say anything at all." Now, that's a pretty high bar I think for most of us in life. And it's difficult. From a monastic context it made a lot of sense, especially as well, let's face it there wasn't a lot of conversation in the monastery anyway. I think out in the world, it's a little more challenging. There's this part of that that has stuck with me ever since. And I sometimes worry just putting more information more words into the world 'cause it's hard to improve on silence. Silence is such a beautiful thing. We might find it unnerving at times. We might find it a little alien at times but if we take the time to be quiet and to allow thoughts to settle then it can become a really, yeah, as I say a really sort of beautiful thing. And I wonder if words have become perhaps a little less powerful over time. I dunno about you, I find the relentless news cycle the constant sort of flow of information it feels like there is just noise everywhere. And most of this noise is words. The written word. The spoken word. There is just a lot of words, a lot of information, a lot of noise in the world. And yet, we kind of have to say something. There are things that we need to say. It's important that we stand up for things that perhaps we believe in. It's important that we stand up for other people who perhaps don't have a voice. And that's, for me, the fine line. It seems to me that there is amidst this massive noise, every now and again there is a word, a sentence, a phrase, a talk from someone or something that comes through. And almost like a sword it sort of cuts through the noise. So it's not that words are not beneficial we have to say something sometimes, even if it feels as though in using those words, we're moving further away from the very thing we're trying to talk about or describe. Which of course is always true when we're talking about meditation, silence, or anything like that. But there is this fine line, I think, for each and every one of us to walk. Where we are not just adding more noise, more opinion to the world but instead we're being a little more selective. We're choosing what to put out into the world. And hopefully every now and again adding something that will cut through the noise that will allow people to experience whether it's a quieter mind, a moment of insight a moment of peace, a...