We all need more of it.
“In recent years researchers have highlighted the peculiar power of silence to calm our bodies, turn up the volume on our inner thoughts, and attune our connection to the world.” So writes Daniel A. Gross in his article, “This Is Your Brain on Silence,”) Nautilus, June 19, 2016).
Silence – the absence of noise – can have beneficial physical effects, such as reducing blood pressure, relieving stress, mitigating heart disease, generating new brain cells, and improving sleep. Silence relaxes the body, especially when it is heightened by contrasts – as in between periods of noise.
Silence can stimulate the brain's powers of remembering: “On the blank sensory slate of silence, the brain can conduct its own symphonies.” When we are at rest, we allow our brains time to “integrate external and internal information into ‘a conscious workspace.’” “Freedom from noise and goal-directed tasks, it appears, unites the quiet without and within, allowing our conscious workspace to do its thing, to weave ourselves into the world, to discover where we fit in. That's the power of silence.”
We would be wise, it seems, to make more room for silence in our lives, especially in our time with the Lord. In the silence, we’re more likely to hear the still, small voice of the Spirit, speaking within our souls to bring us into the Lord’s presence and glory.