My mother was a master of using silence to coerce a confession.

All she would do is ask a question and then glare. Her stance indicated a position of strength, one that knew she was the one in charge, while her face remained passive–waiting for me to respond.

I would reply with as much muster as I could. It would be honest. Maybe not the whole story, but an honest one.

And that’s when her brilliance shone through because she wouldn’t say a thing afterwards.

Nothing.

It would get horribly uncomfortable and the few moments that passed felt like an eternity. It was enough to break me and verbal diarrhea would spill out. Most days, I’m not even sure if what came out of my mouth made sense.

To be honest, I probably confessed to things I didn’t even do.

For whatever reason, we are afraid of silence and leaving space for it drives us nuts. Our brains have a built-in mechanism that assumes a few moments of silence stretches for much longer and we need to fill that void.

It’s silence that forces us to confront ourselves and we live in a world that does its best to protect us from any self-reflection. We are bombarded with noise in order to uphold the illusion that happiness will come with one more click… one more show… one more purchase…

Even more, times of silence may be a reminder that you can do without most forms of media, especially on a constant basis.

Or, it might even be the time when you realize there’s something you need to say.

But, it’s a powerful force. If you can learn to harness it, not only would you be in the same echelon as my mother, it would lead you to a path of self-reflection and self-mastery.