Our Bodies Need Silence

Your body knows about schedules. It gets used to those times of day when it says, Feed me right now. I’m hungry, and those times of night when it says, Get me to bed. I’m exhausted. Your body will speak up for whatever it gets used to. It asks for coffee or tea in the morning, and later, like a train running right on schedule, it requests its glass of wine or dessert after dinner (and maybe some decaf this time around).

When you deck yourself out in gym clothes, it says, Okay, I’ll run, and when you plop down in front of the computer, it grudgingly agrees, Yes, I’ll work for a while. It prepares itself for whatever you’ve gotten it used to. Why not give it some regular silence? It’ll like it. It’ll grow to expect it. Even if your mind doesn’t seem to want to quit, this dedicated moment of silence will become part of the rhythm of your day, like going for a walk, shopping online, reading the news, checking for messages on your phone, or scanning through social media. Be brutal; be disciplined; be ruthless at protecting this quiet time. Also be kind to yourself when interruptions inevitably occur.