Quality life and work requires something very rare in modern life: Quiet.

Recent studies are showing that taking time for silence restores the nervous system, helps sustain energy, and conditions our minds to be more adaptive and responsive to the complex environments in which so many of us now live, work, and lead. 

Quiet is associated with the development of new cells in the hippocampus, the key brain region associated with learning and memory.
However, cultivating silence is not just about getting respite from the distractions. Real sustained quiet, the kind that facilitates clear and creative thinking, tranquilizes inner chatter as well as outer.

This kind of silence is about resting the mental reflexes that habitually protect a reputation or promote a point of view. It is about taking a temporary break from one of life’s most basic responsibilities: Having to think of what to say.

Silence increases our chances of encountering new ideas and information. When we are constantly fixated on our daily agenda—what to say next, what to write next, what to tweet next—it is tough to make room for truly different perspectives or radically new ideas. It is hard to drop into deeper modes of listening and attention. In addition, it is in those deeper modes of attention that truly new ideas arise.

Here are four practical ideas to cultivate Silence:

1) Let us mark our meetings with five minutes of quiet time. Close the office door; retreat to a park bench; find another quiet hideaway. It is possible to hit reset by engaging in a silent practice of meditation or reflection.

2) Let us take a silent afternoon in nature. Immersion in nature can be the clearest option for improving creative thinking capacities.

3) Let us turn off our email for several hours or even a full day and try “fasting” from news and entertainment. While there may still be plenty of noise around—family, conversation, city sounds—we can enjoy real benefits by resting the parts of our mind associated with unending work obligations and tracking social media or current events.

4) Let us try a meditation retreat. Even a short retreat is arguably the most straightforward way to turn toward deeper listening and awaken intuition. 

The world is getting louder. Nevertheless, silence is still accessible: It just takes commitment and creativity to cultivate it.