For people who are accustomed to talking very much, tongue control can be a challenging struggle. John of the Cross offers some advice. Great wisdom is to be able to keep silence and to look neither at the words nor at the deeds, nor at the lives of others. He also counsels, Better to conquer the tongue than to fast on bread and water. Disciplining what one says uncovers silent places in the heart.
Exterior silence is augmented by limiting speech and turning down volume controls.
It also can lead to interior silence. Most self-oriented thoughts and behaviors erode inner quiet. Interior silence begins when schemes, concerns and agendas of the ego or other self oriented mannerisms are laid aside. They decrease as a God-centered love grows within us. Interior silence disciplines the mind, imagination and memory.