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Another title for this article could be: why are we so afraid of silence?

It is such an incredible turn of events that meditation has become so accessible. A simple app on your phone has you able to access thousands of guided meditations recorded by beautiful souls making an effort to be of service.

This whole flow of events that guided meditation is so accessible is full of merit and beauty and is definitely beneficial.

But still, we need to ask the question: why are we so afraid of silence?

And what can we do to help more people take more time in actual silence?

This is somewhere we need a breakthrough.

I know you are full of anxiety—I am also much of the time.

And I know when you sit quietly, the memories come, and they make your heart ache. And the worries arise, and you get that awful feeling in your belly that things won’t work out.

We all have that feeling.

But because we are all having these feelings, that means they are the exact experiences we need to learn to work with, we need to master, and we need to heal.

A little bit of silence each day will give you this opportunity.

If meditating is important to you, if you think meditation will bring benefit to your life—then you must let go of the idea that the actual experience of meditation will be peaceful and calm.

Why would it? When you are alone in your own experience, do you always feel peaceful and calm? No, you feel caught up in all your experiences. And that is normal, that is natural—that is what this being human is like.

So, if meditation is important to you, then just let go of some idea you will feel calm and peaceful when you meditate.

Instead, honor that you will feel exactly what you feel when you meditate. Commit that you will show up fully to whatever experience is present when you meditate.

Commit you will use meditation as a chance to apply compassion and self-love to all your experiences. This takes practice. And meditation is the perfect time to practice applying patience and kindness to the places we dislike within our own consciousness.

Guided meditations are sweet and useful and bring many people a balm to their nervousness.

But if you really want to transform, if you really want the alchemy that meditation can bring to how you relate to your experience of being human—then meditate in silence on your own.

Ten minutes is a nice amount of time to sit in silence.

Perhaps for five minutes, you will be uncomfortable while you meditate. I know you have been uncomfortable for five minutes many times in your life. This is not more than you can handle.

Let go of wanting every experience to be pleasurable. It’s not going to happen. And who would want it to? The discomfort is where we grow. The discomfort is where we prove to ourselves how strong and capable we are.

Look forward to the discomfort. Run to the discomfort and ask it to alchemize you into the best version of yourself.

Do this daily.

Do this in silence.

You will be so grateful you did.

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