There are many stimuli in the world, just think of sound. How do you deal with this? Do incentives work to your advantage or disadvantage and:
Sound and silence in your outside and inside world affects this. In this blog you will discover more about this and also how you can make silence work to your advantage.
The environment in which you live/work has a (subconscious) influence on your well-being. What kind of environment do you live and work in:
How does this affect your body, feelings and thoughts? For example, noise nuisance can lead to (chronic) stress, hearing problems (such as tinnitus), cardiovascular problems (such as high blood pressure and heart rate) , a lowered immune system and fatigue. The WHO wrote a report on noise pollution in relation to the loss of healthy life years.
It can also cause other problems such as feeling restless and having a busy head.
In Western society people are taught to be focused on the outside world and to have a fast pace of life. Are you pursuing things, are you busy performing?
Some people lose themselves in the outside world and rat race. Inwardly there is no stilness, but noise. This can cause complaints. Are you going beyond your limits ? Do you feel stressed , overwhelmed, scared , lonely and/or are you overworked and burned out?
Stillness helps you on a physical, emotional, mental, relational and spiritual level.
What quietness exactly does to you is personal. Below you will find 20 examples of physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and relational advantages and disadvantages of stillness.
Here are some examples of the physical benefits of stillness:
About 1 in 5 people is a highly sensitive person (HSP) and recognizes themselves in these HSP traits. Stimuli enter HSP more intensely compared to non-HSP. Relaxing is important; in this way, incoming stimuli are processed and the energy system is restored. Stillness contributes to this and helps you to recharge yourself on a physical, emotional, mental, relational and spiritual level.
A study found that adding 2 minutes of silence after listening to music significantly reduced subjects’ heart rate and blood pressure (important measures of heart health). Compared to relaxing and slow music, silence caused a greater drop in heart rate and blood pressure.
Research shows that noise can lead to problems such as poorer sleep in the hospital.
If there is literal noise and/or noise in your head, this can (unconsciously) keep you awake. Experiencing external/inner stillness contributes to better sleep.
Below are examples of emotional benefits of stillness:
Stilness has several positive emotional effects. It supports you to let yourself be less carried away by emotions and to feel confident, safe and powerful.
Stilness supports you to calm down and relax so that you feel calmer and more peaceful. It helps you deal with stress better.
Silence helps you to let everything come through to you optimally, so that you can enjoy it to the fullest.
Stilness supports you to accept and surrender to what is (and not try to ‘know’/control everything).
Below are examples of mental benefits of stillness:
Stilness helps you to turn inward and contemplate / reflect.
Stilness helps you to gain insights, new ideas and to be creative. It helps you find solutions to problems.
In silence you can experience space, so that you can create something from ‘nothing’.
Stilness helps you step by step to break through a continuous stream of thoughts. It helps you to distinguish thoughts, so that you have a clear idea of what is (un)important to you. Silence supports you to see what is going on in yourself and the world. It helps you to put things into perspective. It supports you to set realistic/achievable goals.
Stilness supports you to perceive more beauty in yourself and the world around you.
Silence helps you to experience more space between your thoughts and focus. It supports you to be less carried away by thoughts/worrying, if you know how.
One study found that 2 hours of silence stimulated the growth of new cells in the region of the brain related to memory.
Because your mind is clearer, you can prioritize better and be more efficient and productive in your work and personal life. You can get more done in less time.
Below are some examples of spiritual benefits of stillness:
Silence helps you to increase your (self)awareness and to perceive more space.
Silence helps you to get in touch with Yourself and to get to know Yourself better. It helps you to feel at Home in Yourself (your own energy).
Silence helps you to be in better contact with your intuition and to strengthen it. This helps you, for example, to make choices that really suit you.
Silence supports you to Be and to perceive what is.
If you can really be still, you can hear and listen to what is happening in your inner and outer world. This helps you to be in better contact with Yourself, which allows you to improve the relationship with Yourself.
It also helps you to be in better contact with the gross and subtle world around you. You then feel connected to everything/a greater whole (including the spiritual world as with light beings and Ascended Masters). This helps you to improve the relationship with the external world(s).
In principle, there are no disadvantages associated with silence. However, at first it may seem that silence has disadvantages.
Literally 100% acoustic silence in your physical world can trigger emotions with charge/uncomfortable feelings. You may feel frightened/disturbed by a deathly silence.
Many people are not in touch with themselves. It can be confrontational to get in touch with yourself and discover what is going on there on a physical, emotional, mental, relational and spiritual level.
What was playing in the background can quietly come to the surface. This can be daunting at first. You may become aware of tension in your body, stress and troubled thoughts. Paradoxically enough, silence can then seem to be ineffective and rather counter-productive. It can be extremely valuable if you dare to be open to this and don’t shy away from confronting yourself; this way you can learn to transform this (in the long run).
The tips below will help you experience more silence:
What does stillness do to you? What do you (dis)like about it?
Many people find silence in the outside and their inner world exciting/scary and avoid silence and fill up on silence, for example by:
Gain insight into which blockages (unconsciously) prevent you from allowing more (inner/external) silence.
To what extent do you experience a balance on a physical, emotional, mental, relational and spiritual level? Be honest with yourself. Do you feel deep down that something needs to change? What could silence mean to you?
Silence in your inner and outer world does not automatically come into your life. Do you want to experience this more? Consciously plan time for this. Pay attention to this. The more attention you pay to this, the more results you will achieve.
For example, what do you like in terms of (no) sounds around you?
Usually, nature sounds (such as the sound of the sea or birds) are experienced as more pleasant than traffic sounds. This is related to evolution.
Some HSPs like to wear silent headphones when there is external noise, such as on an airplane .
Sometimes it is not possible to create literal silence around you. It is a great misunderstanding that you have to stop acoustic sounds, feelings, emotions and thoughts before you can experience inner silence.
Silence is not fundamentally about the absence of (acoustic) sound; it involves consciousness and an inner state of stillness /awareness. You can also experience this if you have noise (and many decibels) around you or if you are deaf and have inner feelings and thoughts and perform activities (such as Yin Yoga). The trick is to make this inner silence your own; this has a lot to offer you and the world around you!
Dare to ask for help if you want to create more inner stillness. Choose a way that resonates with you. What kind of vision do you have? If you have a scientific, religious, holistic / spiritual point of view, choose an approach that aligns with this.
Below you will find a few examples of how you can create more inner silence.
For example, meditation can help to experience more inner silence, even in the face of external noise. If you have never meditated before, a guided meditation can be helpful to experience more stillness. Tip: Mathijs van der Beek gives a free (guided) dutch meditation every Sunday at 20:00 dutch time via his live stream. Are you having interest in an English version? Let us know!
If you have meditated more often, it is usually easier to meditate in complete silence and benefit from this.
Some people think that taking a one-time silent retreat (for example by being alone in a monastery for a weekend) is a one-time ‘miracle pill’ that brings about complete inner silence for the rest of their lives. This is a misunderstanding. Experiencing more inner silence is a process that requires time and attention.
For example, some professionals offer a silent treatment that supports you to experience more inner silence. I usually do this too :).
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We are Femke and Mathijs: a Dutch couple and we are both highly sensitive and highly intuitive/paranormal. We feel a non-physical presence beyond the visible site and we are very interested in spirituality and sacred places.
We love to travel the world with our dog Juultje (born in 2022).
We like helping highly sensitive and paranormal persons to discover their divine calling and soul purpose and live it, so they can feel alive too.
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