Letting Go of Noise: How Silence Can Help You Find Your Inner Voice

If there is a common thread across all religions and faiths of the world, it is the value they all ascribe to silence. Interestingly, even if you are an atheist, you will likely admit silence is a pretty darn good tool to have in the armor for mental clarity and reflection. If you are a creative person, you’ll know the immense value silence brings to you when you sit down to write that poem or make that art or sculpt the next Nefertiti.

The much loved spiritual master Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar succinctly puts it, “Deep silence is the mother of creativity. No creativity can come out of one who is too busy, worried, overambitious or lethargic.”

Silence also serves a much greater purpose which is to find your own voice. With all that goes on around the world, we need to speak up, we need our voice. And that voice can come from silence. As the contemporary artist, Marli Thibodeau beautifully says, “Silence calls forth the voice that wants to be heard.” You cannot know yourself unless you have made friends with silence. When you do not know who you are and what you stand for, you invariably fall prey to others opinions and influences. Their preferences become yours, and you internalize their answers and behaviours without putting it through the test of reason. For your opinions to form more totally, for your thoughts to be clear as water, for your ideas to be pathbreaking, you need silence.

To add value to anything you do or lead whether at home or work or in society, you need to have your own mind, your own choices. Otherwise you end up with a wishy washy personality that cannot take a stand. Spending time in silence every now and then makes you solid and centered from within; it makes your presence beautiful, comforting and unique. Leonardo da Vinci sums it up for us, “Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.”

And maybe you do not want to lead or win. Maybe for a change, you want to let go of all things this society has conditioned you to want. Even then, you need to know silence. To be able to let go, to stay still, to come back to yourself, you need silence.

Want to learn more? Stepping Into Silence is a deeply restorative retreat that combines guided meditation, gentle yoga, and the healing power of silence to bring clarity, peace, and renewed purpose.

What is silence?

“Silence is the first step to connect to the many dimensions of the inner being. Oh! What a loss when one does not know this,” says Gurudev.

Is it just the opposite of noise? Is it just the absence of chaos? While that may be partly true, real silence is the vast, all-encompassing presence available to you right now, beyond words or expression. Gurudev says, silence “is an attitude.” It is not pretension and it is not only going without speaking for days together, like the ancient monks. Even when we do not speak, the mind is having a constant chit chat with itself- constantly judging, vilifying, hating, craving, struggling, enjoying or imagining. That is not silence either, though it is a good starting point.

For example, you could sit at home and decide to keep silent. You may decide, “Today I am not going to speak a word with anyone.” The next thing you know, your pet dog is chewing away your favorite dress and you don’t know how to express that anger or helplessness. Your children may irritate you with their screen habits until your nerves are nearly imploding with frustration. That silence is no good. And so you need a certain environment that is conducive to silence, where there is a seasoned instructor to gently guide you through this journey of silence, taking you step by step from the external world of activity to the inner bliss of being. Like when you need a GPS to navigate in this physical world which is solid, you must definitely need a guide or a Guru to navigate the tricky world of this mind through the vehicle of silence.

Gurudev in a beautiful commentary on the Ashtavakra Geeta (a timeless conversation of deep wisdom between Sage Ashtavakra and King Janaka) explains, “Just like you remove a fine cloth that gets stuck on a thorn, gently and with skill, so can you guide this mind to know its nature-gently and with some skill.”

That skill comes from learning the art of silence from someone who has known it. The Art of Living’s Silence Retreat for me has been that umbrella that has given my troubled mind the much needed cooling shade against the tumultuous emotions, anger and restlessness from time to time. When you get angry, you turn silent; when you are deeply hurt, you want to be silent. This is so because silence is a powerful tool we are born with for regulating our emotions. All that is needed is a gentle guidance to learn how to silence this mind without these emotional triggers.

It’s difficult to explain the transformation silence brings, but you can feel it. Not immediately perhaps, but over time like the slow clearing of a mist. You begin to observe your emotions rather than drown in them. Things that once triggered you start to feel more manageable. Your reactions are no longer knee-jerk; they are informed, aware.

You may also notice a strange sense of intimacy with life. You start noticing things- a flower blooming by the roadside, the rustle of dry leaves beneath your feet, the cadence of your own breath. It is not just about muting the world; but tuning in to a deeper frequency. Eventually you get to a place where even in the middle of a rock concert, your inner silence remains undisturbed!

This depth of silence in you reflects in how you show up in the world. Your conversations become more thoughtful. Your presence begins to feel calming to others. You no longer feel the need to fill every gap with chatter. And when those inevitable storms of life come, you now have a place within that is untouched. That sacred pool of silence you visited, becomes your refuge.

In truth, silence doesn’t take you away from life. It is not an escape of any sort. It is an immersion in life, with life.

To have your own voice and know it, is to also be comfortable with solitude every now and then. A lot of people today struggle with loneliness because they have not known the brilliance of their own company. That makes us miserable seekers of others company, it is the feeling of lack, of something missing. But solitude born from silence, is extraordinarily full. Gurudev says, “Silence isn’t empty; it’s full of answers.”

In that space, you realize you don’t have to chase love, success, or even validation.