"Silence is the absence of noise. Not all sound–but the absence of noise in the sense of unwanted distraction. In the sense of nothing making claims on your consciousness. In the sense of nothing interfering with your clear perception and intention."
Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz
EFR 667: The Science of Silence and Why it is Important for Your Health and How to Fight the Noise with Leigh Marz and Justin Zorn
The world is noisier than it’s ever been. It is becoming increasingly difficult to focus our attention where we want to. As a culture where overwhelm is the norm and noise, both internal and external, is so prevalent, it can seem impossible to find moments of silence and time to be still.
Leigh Marz and Justin Zorn, authors of “Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise,” talk about the meaning and power of silence in a noisy world, how to find silence, why you need it, and how it can change your life.
Their book discusses why silence is important for our personal and collective wellbeing and how to experience deep silence while living a full life. As well as exploring the concept of silence, the book also explores what goes on in nothingness and where silence truly exists.
Leigh is a collaboration consultant and leadership coach to federal agencies and major companies. Justin has served as a meditation teacher and legislative director in the US Congress. Together Justin and Leigh cofounded Astrea Strategies, a consultancy that specializes in helping individuals and organizations develop solutions from a place of attention and centeredness.
Connect with Leigh on LinkedIn
Follow her on Twitter @LeighMarz
Visit her website
Connect with Justin on LinkedIn
Follow him on Twitter @JustinZorn
Justin’s website: https://justinzorn.com/
Key Highlights
Silence is less about finding a quiet place and more about being present. We experience silence in spaces that allow us to avoid interference with our perception and intention.
Our everyday lives are full of opportunities to listen actively and stay present, but how often do we do this?
The absence of sound does not always imply silence. What makes sound different from noise? How can we find quiet in a noisy environment?
Are quiet and silence subjective experiences? What can we do to experience internal quiet and flow?
Our fear of getting quiet and seeking silence can prevent us from experiencing silence. Why is that?
How to avoid being overwhelmed by noise by tuning your senses to silence and being a discerning listener
Is silence something you need to find? Justin explains that quiet can be accessed at all times and shares ways he has utilized micro-moments in his life to get quiet.
Powerful Quotes by Leigh and Justin
Leigh:
There is a mass proliferation of information that is grabbing our attention increasingly with push notifications, pinging, zinging, all these things, and our attention, our ability to process that information, has not increased in any meaningful way.
It’s our birthright to be able to have pristine attention no matter what gadgetry we may own or be into.
Justin:
Silence is the absence of noise. Not all sound–but the absence of noise in the sense of unwanted distraction. In the sense of nothing making claims on your consciousness. In the sense of nothing interfering with your clear perception and intention. When we think about silence, we often think about quiet spaces, but sometimes there are spaces that are high decibel, but they’re like flow states where there’s no self referential thought, where there’s nothing interfering with clear perception and intention because we’re in the silence of the moment.
Stop mistaking stress from aliveness.
Recommended Resources:
Golden: The Power of Silence In a World of Noise hardcopy on Amazon
Get Golden on audio book for free as your 30-day trial at Audible
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