Chatter

Most of us spend more time talking then listening.
We do not understand when silence is a good thing,noise is everywhere in our lives and we just don't know how to tune out the static.
We hear to much,speak to much and filter nothing.
Everyone of us thinks our opinion or ideas are the most important ones.
Silence is not something we are accustomed to.
In many monasteries and convents,there are times in the day were no one is allowed to speak,silence is key word because it allows one to focus on what they are doing or praying,in a way that can not be done when our brains are running at a hundred miles an hour looking for thoughts and ideas to for our words and sentences.
Silence can be refreshing but it can also be frightening.
Today while at the grocery store,the cashier had a metal screened,surfaced voice box,she could not speak unless she put her fingers over her metal ring,I began to think how much a person must go through to answer a simple questionnaire unable to answer or speak a comment.
How every word is either something that needs to be said or just useless chatter.
Maybe if we all had to struggle to say the things that need to be said,we would be less inclined to speak gossip out of boredom.
Being a child,I was very shy,people thought it was odd to not want to speak with family or friends,they would encourage and try to get me to say more then just a single word answer,as if being shy was an undesirable  crime.
Now that I am an adult I wish I still had the ability to be a little more on the shy side.
Not everything in our brain needs to be out of our mouths and not every sentence we speak will go down in history as golden and pure,words of wisdom,even though we think so.