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Virtues of Silence

For close to eight years now, I have been fortunate to do most of my work from home and travel as needed. This arrangement served J particularly well as I was able to be home most days when she got back from school. As most parents know, timing is everything in having a good conversation with kids. 

If you feed a hungry child and spend that half hour of transition between school and home talking, chances are you will hear something useful atleast sometimes. This is the opportunity I was lucky to have on many days. But the workdays could turnnlong and silent but for such breaks. There would be long stretches of quiet punctured by bursts of phone calls. The total hours of silence I have enjoyed over these years must be an impressive number compared to those who have to go to their physical place of work everyday.


Interesting article on the regenerative value of silence. I have had good ideas during those quiet periods, been able to work on simplifying my life which is an important goal for me. Most importantly, I have been able to remedy problems by learning to control the timing and intensity of my response to aggravations. When surrounded by silence, the desire to act in haste seems to reduce a great deal and so does the desire to break the serenity by behaving in an agitated matter. I think I can attest to the virtues of silence from my own experience - even if there is no evidence of improved brain function. 

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