Over time, our personal possessions, social amenities, and scientific knowledge have increased tremendously, yet somehow, the world today is suffering from an epidemic of depression, anxiety, and distress.
Numbers don’t lie—year after year, these statistics continue to worsen and paint a progressively bleaker picture of our reality.
People have never been as disconnected from themselves (and therefore from others) as they are in today’s world.
We live in a noisy world—a world where it’s practically impossible to be in pure silence. Right when we wake up, we’re exposed to non-stop outside noise: radio, music, TV, games, Internet, traffic, people.
And even when there isn’t a lot of outside noise and we’re alone, most of us seem to have this urge to check our phones, email, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. every few minutes and create our own noise. As a matter of fact, today’s population checks their phone on an average every 12 minutes.
One of the core drawbacks of technological advancements has been our addiction to keep our lives filled with distractions.
The noise simply never stops.
Did you know the word noise is derived from the Latin word noxia, which means “hurt,” “damage” or “injure”?
In one of its studies, the World Health Organization (WHO) termed noise “a modern plague.” And in a different study, conducted in 2011, WHO estimated that residents of Western Europe “annually [lose] a million years of healthy life because of noise.”
We are all searching for inner peace and happiness, and it cannot be found in the constant stream of noise and an outward-looking mind. Finding this peace and happiness is an inside business. Being in silence trains the mind to look inwards, this in turn leads to clear thoughts, self-awareness, and contentment.
If we carefully think, we can’t help but appreciate the fact that today’s modern life in many ways has only increased the value of silence.
We need silence not only for its health and psychological benefits, but also to create and maintain space, self-awareness, balance, harmony, focus, and peace.
The practice of silence is a simple yet powerful way to feed your soul. It provides the foundation for all personal and spiritual transformations.
While going through our daily routines we don’t access many parts of our brain. Silence is a way to reach these deeper parts and tap into greater knowledge.
And know this: bringing periods of silence into your life doesn’t mean separating yourself from the world. On the contrary, it’s a way of connecting with yourself and others on a deeper and more meaningful level.
Visit our blogs, where we introduce the importance of silence in more detail.