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BlogHer.com's Paula Gregorowicz, a life and business coach, explains how the silence that changed the world can still change yours.

Silence has the power to shake us at the core. It also has the power to allow us to tap into the deepest and most important pieces of ourselves so we create our lives, our businesses, our careers, our relationships and our every single precious day in a way that is meaningful.

Silence Speaks -- If We Listen
Eight years ago, 9/11 created a powerful hush that moved many to make lasting changes in their lives. For others their proclamation of change fell by the wayside as emotions were forgotten or buried on the way back to status quo because fear or complacency took the driver's seat.

Are you afraid of the silence?

If you were to get very still and quiet, would you be willing to listen to the messages that showed themselves?

Click here to read why you should take a minute of silence today -- or soon.

A World Without Quiet
We aren't used to quiet. We have Internet 24/7 and we're tweeting away from the boardroom, the train and the bedroom. There is noise everywhere. Silence and presence is hard to come by and something most people avoid unless it is thrust upon them.

Besides the utter tragedy of 9/11 and the deep emotions it evoked for everyone as mortality and meaning became an around-the-water-cooler topic (perhaps for the first and only time), one thing it also did was bring us a measure of uncommon silence.

I can remember being dismissed from work early (suburban Philadelphia) and going for a bike ride. It was eerily quiet without planes in the air and rush hour traffic. For those closer to the scene, they describe the strange quiet on the streets of NYC and time standing still in silence.

In the silence, whether tragic and unexpected as in 9/11 or simply by choice as in meditation or retreat, we can no longer avoid what is right in front of and within us. Our senses are heightened and we are right here, right now.

The Sounds of Change
For people who vowed eight years ago to live each day more fully, take more time for the things that matter, or stop suffering in careers that don't fit them only to find themselves today in essentially the same mode of operation as pre-9/11, it is because they forgot the whispers of wisdom they heard in the silence.

I came across Lissa Rankin's post "Owning Silence: My Meditation Retreat at Spirit Rock" and just love the depth of what she shares. There are so many excellent points in this article, and in particular I love this simple statement on silence:

"One day of silence positively transformed me. I can only imagine having that gift for a few days or a week. I could barely lift my head to watch Jack as he spoke. 'You might feel tired,' he explained. 'This is probably the first time in awhile many of you have stopped to just be, and your body is thanking you for listening to it, for resting it.' Oh yes, agreed my body. Listen to the man. Listen to ME."

How to Get Your Own
Silence is transformational and you don't need a catastrophe to happen in order to befriend it. In fact silence is critical for tapping into your intuition, which is an integral component for success, happiness, survival and living your life in a way that is on track for you.

Silence is deep communion with yourself and all other living things. It doesn't come naturally to us but you can learn how to practice silence. Here are seven reasons why we should practice silence and how you can do that in under 15 minutes a day from Tatyana.

So whether you are a devotee of creating silence in your days or someone who just wants to get a better grip on what is most important to you, you can do that in a moment of quiet no matter how busy your life may be.

Honor the Day, Honor Yourself
I'll don my coaching hat and make a request to you: Take a moment of silence this week in honor of 9/11, and just notice if you are following through on the commitments you made to yourself that fateful day. If you don't like the answer you hear, today is the perfect day to re-commit and do things differently. There's nothing more powerful or triumphant than that.

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