This week’s dose of Mental Sunshine is all about silence.
How often do you get a bit of silence in your life?
I don’t mean the accidental moments between tasks
I mean a proper stop, taking some time to really rest your brain.
Finding some silence is something we always put off until there’s time – that’s even if it was on the to do list in the first place.
And it’s easily the first thing taken off when things get busy – I’ll do that tomorrow or I’ll get round to that…
Gandhi famously said, “I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one”
He understood that paradoxical truth – that if you give your brain a little space and silence, it often becomes more productive and better able to handle what you throw at it.
So you actually get more done.
Of course, it’s easy for me to tell you to “make more time for silence” when your diary is probably already rammed.
So my tip for you is to add this to your diary as if it were an important appointment. – set in concrete
An appointment with yourself.
A recurring, daily or weekly event which you treat as your most important engagement.
Blocking out some time to work on yourself.
You don’t even have to go anywhere in particular to seek silence
The Zen meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn famously said “Wherever you go – there you are”
Spending some time alone and in silence can make a big difference to your day.
It might seem a bit daunting, if you’re not used to it.
And you might find yourself reaching out for your phone or looking around for something to do.
You probably will find that your head fills up with all sorts of thoughts.
All of this is normal
Just notice how your brain responds to the silence.
Can you do another five minutes before you give in to that urge to pick up your phone?
Let me know how you get on!
