Silence

Don't speak unless you can improve on silence makes sense to me -- I would do well to follow that advice more often. From the Psalms is, "Be silent and know I am God." Paschal said our problems come from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone. I agree with the Four Seasons that silence is golden. I love Jean Klein's many statements about silence -- each is a reflection in silence. Silence often was anxiety producing for me, and is for many people, but it seldom is anymore. Now I often welcome it. Silence is a time to turn inward, break from external and even internal talking and listen for and to the I am that is my real self and is an expression of God. Silence is getting regrounded in myself. Silence is peaceful. I feel established in silence when I allow and embrace it and tune in to what I am experiencing inside. What helps me cultivate silence is valuing my inner life and knowing that silence is an entryway into it. What also helps me is to close my mouth, close my eyes, get away from the external world, go to a quiet internal space, and reflectively nonjudgmentally pay attention to what I am experiencing.