I was inspired by the below article….

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A vow of silence – Key to bliss may be as simple as turning off your car radio

In a stressed-out world filled with 24/7 bad news, author Anne D. LeClaire has discovered the key to calm and bliss.

On the first and third Mondays of each month, she practices silence. No talking to her husband, her publisher or her two grown children, no chatting with the occasional houseguest, the repairman or neighbors. No one.

“On silent days, I try to have nothing on the calendar,” LeClaire explains from her home in Cape Cod, Mass. “Sometimes I’ll be traveling for a book tour, but the silence is still with me. I can’t be complaining and grumbling if a flight’s delayed, I don’t get involved in all the hassle.”

The result: “The days are peaceful, and I release all my stress.”

LeClaire began her silent Mondays 16 years ago after walking on the beach to contemplate her sadness about a friend’s mother dying. The former reporter and radio broadcaster wasn’t particularly religious and wasn’t the quiet type. But she heard the words, “Sit in silence” in her head. The decidedly unflaky LeClaire announced to her husband she’d spend the next day not talking.

Since then, she has eliminated e-mail, radio and television from her silent days, though she’ll sit at the computer and work on novels.

“My single determination when I began was to not speak,” says LeClaire, whose ninth book, “Listening Below the Noise” (Harper, $ 19.99), documents her experience with quiet. “But the more comfortable I became with silence, the more I thirsted for it, and the sounds I’d accepted unquestionably became noise.”

She quit using TV for mindless background and stopped switching on the car radio. “I found I really liked driving without the distraction,” she says.

So what’s it like being unplugged twice a month from our 24-hour world? “I feel like I’ve been to a spa after each silent day,” LeClaire says. “I have so much more energy.”

She has also become a better listener, is calmer, and has learned what’s truly important. “We live in a culture where we think everything has to be done now—that we have to respond to every e-mail and phone call immediately,” she says. “What I’ve discovered is, much of what we think is urgent can wait a day or two.”

Silent meditation has long been accepted as a way to achieve calm and wisdom, and more health-care professionals are incorporating silence into their practices to combat stress.

Chicago therapist Marita McLaughlin, who practices contemplative psychotherapy, starts each session in silence with clients. “We sit quietly, breathing calmly and connecting with each other and ourselves as we begin our work,” says McLaughlin, who also teaches meditation at Chicago’s Shambhala Meditation Center in Rogers Park. The silence lasts as long as the client likes. “When they feel ready, they begin the conversation.”

She encourages clients to meditate outside therapy to de-stress and gain insight. “They get a different perspective on what’s going on and begin to see habitual patterns that get in the way of their desires and goals,” she says. “Meditation gives perspective and it carries over.”

Some patients, however, need persuading to unplug. Acupuncturist Patricia Piant, who’s with the Integrative Medicine Program at NorthShore University HealthSystem, has clients who’ve chatted on their cell phones during treatment. “One person turned the cell phone off but thought texting was OK,” she says. “We’re trying to get people away from that for at least the 20-30 minute treatment.”

In addition to oncology patients and those dealing with infertility or injury, Piant treats patients for stress, which she says has skyrocketed over the past few months. “People have told me that the only time they have quiet is when they’re on the table.”

“I tell patients, if you’re on my table, it’s OK not to answer your phone for that amount of time. You don’t have to take your laptop into bed and work at night. They find out much of that stuff isn’t as important as they think and the world won’t come crashing down.”

LeClaire says her silent days have formed a buffer from today’s constant onslaught of dire information. “Look, all that bad news will be there tomorrow, and so much of that news engenders fear. Just being away from it for a day helps us regain our reality.”

And in times of crisis, reflection and quiet are especially important. “Whether it’s health, financial, political or a relationship crisis, it’s imperative to stop and be quiet. It gives you time to reflect and not just mindlessly react and raise the ante of noise.”

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source

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/mar/15/news/chi-0315-quiet-timemar15

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