Silence is louder. Silence is the best answer. Silence speaks more.
Silence always conveys a message or suggests emotions. Either you approve or disapprove, and you are happy or hurt. Silence sometimes becomes more powerful than words.
When you argue with someone while you are extremely upset, the words increase the risk of harm. You ultimately lose the person's respect.
However, if you stop talking, you either manage to say something that may have hurt more, or you convey the idea that it is useless to argue a point if the other person cannot hear you.
The others get perplexed when someone known to talk excessively suddenly stops talking. They will begin to consider what they have done to warrant the silence and what is going through that person's head.
Sometimes, it is in that situation that the others start to reflect on. It becomes the way to many realizations.
Silence gains power when noise takes over our lives.
When people gossip around, but you choose silence over adding more speculations and intrigue, you are stopping the harm that these gossip-mongers love to do.
You have just saved a person from evil mouths. Even if Artificial Intelligence, that software that provides us details and facts, permeates all of the technology and devices we use today, rumors still have the upper hand.
When you talk too much, people can no longer hear your words. They could not retain what you said, but they have created one impression – you are a loud person.
Max Ehrmann wrote this in his Desiderata: Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit.
True indeed. Respect goes to people who speak less, but when they start talking, they are full of wisdom and wit.
Silence has many voices.
It is not empty. It’s full of answers, and sometimes, it becomes the best answer to someone who doesn’t value your words or has hurt you.
Silence is not surrendering to arguments or discussions. We just need that before we start communicating.
We are not always right when we speak. In one of the sessions I conducted about communication skills for effective leadership, I shared the ideas in the Words that Change Minds book of Charvet Shelle Rose.
In one of its opening lines, it says, “Bad communication ends a lot of good things. Good communication ends a lot of bad things.”
So, try to be quiet and reflect before starting to spew words.
In communication, silence means you choose not to respond. It can be a result of hesitation or uncertainty. Or, more importantly, it is the way to engage and understand what someone else is saying.
Sometimes, the problem with communication is listening. We answer to reply, not to understand. We cannot decipher every word the other speaks or the meaning that lies beyond the words because we do not let silence govern.
In everything we do and say, it is better to take a moment of silence. We find inner peace. We gain precision. We can make wise decisions.
So, just sit and be silent for a while. It opens the door to self-discovery and enlightenment.