“Listen to silence, it has much to say.” This is even more true today than when Rumi uttered these words more than nine hundred years ago. But it speaks to a universal challenge we have, sitting and being comfortable in silence. In the past nine hundred years, we have added more noise to our lives: traffic, construction, office equipment, background music, the cacophony of being in close quarters with others. But the loudest noise has always been and still is the noise in our heads. And oftentimes that noise spills out of our mouths, creating more noise, or even creating bigger problems. Ask my wife, she can testify to how often what I am thinking comes pouring out of my mouth creating more challenges. Sometimes the best thing we can say is nothing at all.
Two quotes might help you live with that silence. “Better to be silent and thought a fool than open your mouth and confirm all doubts,” by Abraham Lincoln, and “Silence can never be misquoted,” by Calvin Coolidge. Whether it’s to be comfortable in silence or save you from stepping on your own toes, one technique is to just count to ten in your head before speaking. See what happens in that space.