When you think of silence, what do you associate with it? Sometimes it’s difficult to think of silence as any one emotion or idea.
This is because silence is conveyed in so many different ways that it can become ambiguous and difficult to understand. Another thing to think about is how we perceive silence depending on the situation.
A lot of the time, we forget how powerful silence can really be, since we’re constantly distracted by noise. Silence isn’t just limited to being associated with things like bad news or being at a loss for words during an awkward moment.
People use silence in many ways, such as self-reflection, or maybe to express things that simply can’t be expressed with words alone.
Sometimes we can understand silence better when it’s accompanied by facial expressions, such as a grimace or smile, but other times it’s harder to tell.
It doesn’t always need to be that deep, either. We use silence in our everyday lives to emphasize things, such as, for example, when you’re reading a story to someone or when you pause during a conversation. Those are more comfortable forms of silence.
And even then, these brief moments of silence can help the words sink in more than they would if we said it all in one breath. We have the choice to speak or not, and sometimes silence is the best choice you could make.
What I mean by this is if, for example, things are tense, saying nothing can help prevent things from getting worse. Arguing and saying every single thing you’re thinking could end up making you say something you might regret later.
Silence can also be a good thing to use when we’re making decisions. When we remain silent and take longer to respond to something, we end up thinking more about it, therefore, forming more thoughtful responses.
