7 Benefits of Solitude and Silence: Treat Your Body, Mind and Spirit!

Human beings are social creatures, to be sure, but the benefits of solitude are not to be discounted. Here’s why you should embrace silence

- By Paige Leigh Reist

One of our most basic, instinctual fears is the fear of loneliness. We are social creatures our ancestors survived by leaning on and caring for each other, and by sharing knowledge and resources with one another. But this is a fear leftover from another time. Our ancestors lived in smaller, more tightly-knit groups, and they didn’t have access to the luxuries and pitfalls of technology. Their communication was largely face-to-face, and they weren’t presented with the constant distraction of intellectual and emotional stimuli.

Modern life, in contrast, can give us the illusion of being involved. We are constantly inundated with communication without true connection and a wealth of information without wisdom. We simply aren’t built to process the amount of information and socialisation that we’re expected to.

The dominant narrative of success and happiness is one of constant and unrelenting productivity, a wildly busy social life, and a never-ending list of accomplishments that just keeps growing and growing. Extroversion is celebrated and seen as the default personality mode, and if you’re someone who prefers a bit of quiet and solitude, the people you love can even unnecessarily become concerned for your wellbeing, seeing it as unhealthy introvert behaviour.

But solitude and silence are incredibly healing for both extroverts and introverts. Think of your life in terms of cycles. Just like the earth, you need seasons of rest in order to fully bloom during seasons of abundance. It can’t be summer year-round!

Here are 7 benefits of solitude and silence that help you heal, rest, and grow

REST

Above all, silence gives you a break. When you strip away the constant notifications on your phone, the drone of the television, and even the sound of crowds and traffic and everything that comes with city life, your mind is given space to breathe. Silence, although it can be unnerving at first, feels like a big, cleansing exhale. It allows your mind true rest, something it probably isn’t used to. That rest naturally helps reduce anxiety and stress levels while increasing inner peace.

SELF-AWARENESS

When you sit with yourself in silence, all of your public masks and societal roles are stripped away, and you're alone with your true self. You’re allowed to just be who you are, and along with that, you’re free to start to recognise your true nature. You’re not obligated to be a parent, friend, or employee-when you are silent, you are simply and wholly yourself and can begin to access deeper knowledge about yourself and become comfortable with who you are. Authentic mindfulness dawns.

CREATIVITY

Silence makes you more creative! It gives your mind the chance to process everything that it has been taking in, and gives it time to cook a little. Humans are natural problem-solvers, artists, and scientists, which all require a great deal of creativity. Creativity, in turn, requires a great deal of silence.

SPIRITUALITY

Silence for spiritual purposes not only gives you inner peace, it is good for the soul. When you sink into silence, you begin to understand the interconnectedness of everything on earth. No matter your spiritual tradition, silence is spiritually powerful in that it allows you to both be a part of the world and to connect with the more subtle forces at work in the universe.

HEALING

Silence is also a gift of healing. It helps you work through trauma and disappointment. Things that need attention tend to rise up when you’re silent, sometimes things you didn’t even know were an issue, and silence gives you time to work through them and heal. Think of silence like a river. Once the first layers of mud are cleared away, the stones underneath become uncovered and can be washed away as well.

CONNECTION

This one might seem counterintuitive, but silence and solitude actually increase empathy and the ability to connect with others on a meaningful level. Solitude can help you appreciate the people in your life more and can help you diagnose problems in relationships and recognise your own behaviours and habits.

BRAIN HEALTH

Silence is wonderful for your brain. Not only does it give your prefrontal cortex a break from processing stimuli, but in silence, you can tap into something called the “default mode” of your brain, where you let your mind take over and daydream, contemplate, and get lost in your thoughts. There’s evidence that this state helps to replenish brain cells, too.

The benefits of silence and solitude are many. But if you’re still immersed in your daily life, still looking at your phone every few minutes, checking your email, working, texting, et cetera, the benefits of silence are greatly reduced. In order to truly tap into that inner quiet place, it helps to dedicate a set time in which you can excuse yourself from your daily responsibilities and focus fully on your own development.