Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about how to make your voice more powerful. No, I'm not going to be talking about how you actually speak. I'm going to be talking about, more specifically, the relationship of speaking and silence. So there's this great quote that I came across about a decade ago that has always stuck with me.

I don't know the original author. I think it was anonymous, but it says, "The power of your words is in direct relationship to the silence you keep." The power of your words is in direct relationship to the silence you keep. Now I can think of exceptions to this. I know a lot of people who talk a lot and I don't feel like they're saying much, but I also know a lot of people who talk a lot and I'm always hanging on each of their words. So I don't think this is something that we can take as an absolute truth.

But I have noticed that those who tend to hold a little bit more silence when they speak, I'm more interested in what they have to say, because I have a sense that it is intentional. It's crafted. They're, they're saying it for a particular reason to be useful. I think to one of the meditation teachers I had when I was in Burma. He really didn't speak much.

Not, many of them didn't speak much. They're, they're monks and it's a silent meditation retreat. But this one in particular, when I would go in for my teacher meetings, really didn't have much to say. But when he did say something I really leaned in. I, I really listened.

And there was a sense of each of his words, having a little bit more depth and power than some of the others who would go off on different teaching tangents, which I appreciated as well. And so I'm not sure why this stood out to me the first time I came across this. But I've found for myself over, over my life that, yeah, there are times where maybe I'm speaking a lot without much to say, and it's not really useful. It's more out of habit. And there are other times where I might be more reserved, really contemplating the situation at hand.

And when I do speak from that place, people seem to listen more. So it might be something that you integrate into your own life. Noticing where you're speaking is coming from, the intentionality behind your words. And if you are someone that, who, that does tend to keep a little bit more silence, you may notice some cultural pressure to be more extroverted. That's a common one.

And perhaps you might appreciate that silence through this different lens that the power of your words is in direct relationship to the silence you keep. Just something to think about as you're navigating this big mindfulness journey. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.