Have you ever stood silently in the middle of the woods? Around you, animals scamper, ferns uncurl, seedlings grow. Water may gurgle over rocks in a stream or collect on leaves in the forest. Birds may chirp and other animals may call for their mates. Leaves may gently swish as they get tossed in the wind. But aside from these Nature sounds, the middle of the woods is relatively silent. Why is that? In a place where so much is happening—so much growth, movement, life—the quiet of the forest can be heard above all.

On a busy street, the crunch of leaves or a dry branch underfoot likely would not register. But in the woods, where we are attuned to these sounds, each footprint leaves its mark. Silence is powerful. We see this in conversation as well. Sometimes words do not need to be spoken to convey a message. As Confucius once shared, “A seed grows with no sound, but a tree falls with huge noise. Destruction has noise but creation is quiet. This is the power of silence. Grow silently.”