Finding silence in the noise

Life can be chaotic - filled with a flush of noise - and it can be easy to forget to pause, to regulate, to hear the pace of the body, and to notice the timing that is natural to us and perhaps not to others. It is essential that we find ways to hush our raging thoughts, to cool the external pressures placed on our time and to centre ourselves within the moment. And in effect - elongating the space between the noise, the pressure and the expectation.

Stress, after-all is a dysfunctional relationship with time. Whatever our daily commitments may look like, it is paramount that we find methods to connect with a slower and less demanding internal landscape. This can be a challenge in itself.

The Norwegian polar explorer, Erling Kagge, speaks of the importance of finding silence in day to day life. His 50-day expedition taught him to face the noise of his own thoughts and outlook once all distraction was removed. This called for a discipline to get up and move every morning, with only hours of white snow and survival ahead of him. Finding calm in his own silence became a fundamental source of refuge.

It is important to recreate Kagge's somewhat extreme circumstance of silence but in less dramatic form. This may look like focusing on one task at a time and being truly present with it. It may look like choosing one activity over three. It may simply look like compartmentalising your time and efforts into something manageable, slower-paced and simplified, whilst working in several breaks or clear moments of joy.

Whatever the means it is essential that you stay cool, balanced and grounded - and find ways to connect with the silence within you. The blank page that has no fixed production, but is free to be, free to choose and free to move. However small. Options exist in every moment. And as pressure rises in our modern eco-systems it is paramount that we protect the quiet pace of our bodies, hearts and minds.

We all have responsibilities and daily chatter - and yet it is essential to retain a close connection with the richness of life, the timings that are ours (and not dictated externally) and the silence within, that may reduce our sense of rupture from joy, ease and contentment.