" Quiet … "

There's not a sound 

Outside the snow's coming down 

And somehow I can't seem to find 

The quiet inside my mind 

3:02 

The space in this room 

Has turned on me 

And all my fears have cornered me here 

The volume's down 

Blue lights are dancing around 

And still, I can't seem to find 

The quiet inside my mind 

~ John Mayer ~ Quiet ~

***

Say something authentic rather than something impressive.  Good advice ... probably needed on regular basis ... but hard to practice.  Think about it how much humans loves to hear themselves talk and talk ...

Sometimes its best to stay quiet ...

...Silence can speak volumes without ever saying a word

Blogs ... Instagram ... Facebook ... Twitter ... Pinterest ... Vimeo ... the list goes on in a way we can “communicate” with each other, yet do we really feel heard, acknowledged or received?  Guilty of performing a monologue, I have learned to keep my mouth shut and my ears open ... yeah, even with a blog (where do you think all the thoughts come from?).  You learn a great deal about people, life and really the world when you get out of your head, your own way and allow life to just happen with minimal resistance.

"Never miss a good chance to shut up"

~ Will Rogers ~

I recently read that “Effective communication is when we reach an understanding after a well-placed pause ... when we step back and listen to others and ourselves.  And it about having the ability to recognize when we are talking too much and listening too little ... which erodes the depth and importance of conversations.”

I feel It is not about being reserved or passive ... it is about being actively silent, by choice.  And with intention, we can choose to approach moments with practice patience and silence ... 

Moments of anger

where our mouth moves faster than our brain, making a bad situation worse.  

Moments of void

where there is temptation to fill the silence rather than allowing space to simply process the information 

Moments of rightness

where we take a stand and argue its virtues  without consideration of another perspective

Moments of ignorance

where we don’t really know much about the topic but feel we need to contribute to look intelligent

In theory, this rocks ... but in practice it is so so hard.  Yet once we get away from a more self-indulgent response, we can then slowly begin to say something authentic rather than something impressive …