The decision to be silent can be ...
... like the doorway to an ancient holy cloister. The subsequent practice of silence is a sanctuary beyond the door. It is a place of coolness beyond the withering heat of social achievement. It is a realm of peace beyond the violence of verbal jousting. Silence is a room filled with enough quiet in which you can finally hear what is being said.
Practiced well, silence seems less an endeavor to disconnect from others and the world, and more a transformative engagement in a way that allows for attention to how Spirit is moving within and around one’s self, the situation at hand, in the live of others, the relationships in that place, and more. It is the space to learn, more fully and appropriately, how to speak and act, and even know when the time for silence should end.
Whether you are a parent or spouse who needs to stop and silently count to 3 (or ten, or one-hundred) before responding to the family-member who has pushed your buttons, or a minister who is confounded by some corporate dysfunction within the congregation you serve, or a spiritual leader who simply has discovered a good question to ask or has yet to discover what the best question is ... silence can be a place wherein Spirit dances with your soul and prepares you, deeply and soulfully, for what comes next.
I hope you find the resource links on this page helpful for considering the powerful possibility of practicing silence in your spiritual life.
cultivating silence (catholic)
growing still prayer -- Br. D S-R
just breathe: mindfulness for children
listening for g_d, silence in quaker worship
listening to g_d -- an exercise
making space for the divine: silence
monk in the world meditation: silence
practicing silence (one person's experience)
practicing silence (some ideas)
privilege of silence: beyond narcissism
rule of life: silence & solitude
rule of st. benedict: chapter 6
silence (ignatian spirituality)
silence (spirituality & practice)
silence & solitude: insights from experience
silence & speech in a quaker worship tradition
silence in the face of mystery
silence is G_d's first language
silent worship in friends tradition
solitude and silence - practice in lent