The Role of Silence in Communication
Silence is a very powerful tool in Communication. Let’s look at Silence in communication in two ways – The Negative Way and The Positive Way i.e. Bad Silence and Good Silence
Bad Silence is more of a Barrier in Communication and not a Tool. It could be due to - Shame, Failure, Disinterest, Confusion, Carelessness, Ignorance, Disappointment, Fear and Lack of confidence. This is Silence in the Passive form. A person doesn’t refrain from communicating actively. Rather there just occurs a lack of communication due to one of the above factors. It leads to non-productivity, hampers growth and could have negative effects on one’s personality.
Silence in the Active form is severe. It usually ends relationships and could be used to harm others.
Such silence is used to show - Disagreement, Hate, Indifference, Resentment and Protest
People who resort to using the Bad type of Silence are usually the victims themselves, as no reciprocation on their end leads to building a wall and cutting off from people. And we all know that Communication is life! But even though silence can have such terrible consequences, it is the most powerful tools we use for positive communication in our day-to-day life. Let’s see how that happens by understanding what is Good Silence!
Good silence is the key to existence, clarity of thought and perfect interaction.
The Anagram of the word SILENT is LISTEN. And just as listening is a skill, staying silent is a skill too.
Listening is the essence of Good Silence. Let us now look at three factors of Good Silence.
AWARENESS
To be aware is to know and sense things around us. Silence leads to an increased sense of awareness and helps to receive and perceive information from all that is around us.
There are 3 aspects to Awareness.
Listening, Observing, Understanding
APPRECIATION
Appreciation involves 3 aspects: Acceptance, Attention, Memory
ACTION
Action involves efforts made to pause, be patient and receive communication for a true purpose.
These factors don’t always work individually. They are extremely effective when combined together, and we can analyze the effect of combining these factors as follows:
AWARENESS AND APPRECIATION is linked with our soul and it Involves our very existence.
APPRECIATION AND ACTION is linked with our mind and is concerned with our thought process and perception.
AWARENESS AND ACTION is linked with our heart and is very effective in inter-personal relationships.