Why silence is so important

Stop the noise: silence is important when trying to reflect,
engage deep-thinking, thoughts and creativity

It's increasingly difficult to find peace and quiet in today's world. So how does constant noise impact on our wellbeing, our thoughts, creativity and temperament?

I treasure silence. It is the best situation for me when gathering deep thoughts, reflections, or projecting ideas. It's as though the brain is a computer, with a special short-term memory function - a RAM [random access memory] if you will - for such immediate tasks as critical thinking and creativity. But this RAM is vulnerable to interference from outside distractions - the sounds of voices, commotion, and barking dogs, to name a few that result in a diminished capacity to conjure and hold thoughts and to build on them.

Silence does not mean a complete, deadening void. Ambient sounds such as the wind through the air or moving over branches and leaves, or the beat of rolling ocean waves, and even the murmur of indistinct faraway voices are forms of "white noise" and generally a nonintrusive backdrop to the peace needed for deep thought and reflection.

In this world of constant motion and noise, that art of reflection so needed to make sense of who we are, and what things mean for our lives and emotions, is increasingly crowded out.

Where we are heading? At the end of the day you might escape the disruptive noises of the workplace only to find the neighbourhood bliss is no more. It has been replaced by a minefield of pet animal calls and frustrated squeals, garden machinery and the sound of traffic.

Oh for the sounds of nature, the chirp of birds, the soulful swish of the wind, and the chance to reflect deeply on this journey we call life.

So if you have them, guard those secret places of silence and solitude, and treasure their redemptive and energising qualities.