Capable of practicing silence, we are free as a bird, in touch with the essence of things. The founder of one of the schools of Vietnamese Zen Buddhism wrote, “Don’t ask me anything else. My essence is wordless.”4 To practice mindfulness of speech, sometimes we have to practice silence. Then we can look deeply to see what our views are and what

Spend more time in silence.

With the amount of informational and electronic devices constantly seeking our attention, this is no doubt truer today than it has ever been. Silence has cultivated a listening ear; when I exercise it, it serves me well in every area of my life.

Silence is never-ending speech. Vocal speech obstructs the other speech of silence. In silence one is in intimate contact with the surroundings. The