Arjun Singh Rathore
I used to be a talkative person from my childhood with a very serious and aggressive looks. Even for so many years an official photograph was a very hard task for me to pose a smile without a serious look, by hiding my Glabellar lines. But over the years with maturity, I learnt to control my aggression and show my smile and silent (reserve) nature, as I started to play many roles according to the situation. The controlled silence and smile are really helpful in moulding the present state of physicist when I moved into my career journey.
With time I realised, smile acts as a remedy to everything especially to eight worldly concerns in Buddhism which is also known as AshtaLoka Dharma (Gain, Loss, Fame, Obscurity, Praise, Blame, Happiness and Suffering). As a result, the tool of smile is helping me to become a cool as a cucumber person. When moving with the society, I later learnt that a genuine smile can convey friendliness, open to interaction and warmth indicating that smiling person is not a threat but an approachable personality.
When I was a child, my grandfather, Bapuji (my mother’s uncle) lived with our family. Every morning he would wake up at the crack of dawn and sit in complete silence for an hour. Even as the rest of the household stirred awake and the various morning rituals unfolded around him, he stayed still and quiet. And he practiced the same while taking his food too. Nothing could detract him during that time. He referred to it as the MounVrath, a ritual of meditative silence long practiced in Indian Hindu tradition. He believed that abstaining from speaking for a set period each day brought him inner peace and made him a better listener. Over the years, as I traveled to different parts of the country, in connection with my job, I discovered that a ritual practice of silence is not unique to any religion or culture. Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism and Islam have all advocated the practice of silence in one form or another.
In professional life, I found silence is more than a break; it’s a critical tool. It’s the place where ideas mature, where challenges are assessed, and where resilience builds. When people see you calm amidst uncertainty, it sends a signal of strength, even when the waters are turbulent beneath the surface. Whether I am leading a team, pitching a vision, or navigating challenges, I perceived strength in maintaining calm and this kind of “silent strength” proved to be a secret advantage. It communicates confidence and dedication. It also shows that not everything needs to be expressed; sometimes, the greatest impact comes from what is left unsaid.
But practicing the power of silence was the toughest job for me. Normally, I express my ideas in a very-very straightforward manner without beating around the bush. So, keeping my mouth shut in some instances of my life has become a mammoth task. But in life I have learnt that silence can imply many meanings, a smile can defuse tension and convey friendliness, while silence can be a powerful form of non-verbal communication, allowing for reflection, understanding, and even defiance.
So, how did I practice silence in life? Through meditation, I relax my body parts (especially my mouth) and enjoy the power of silence of my inner self. In addition, I have experienced that silence and smile can play a major role in defusing tense situations. I feel that silence and smile of a person can show that he is in control of his emotions. It can portray a confident personality. Sometimes in life it is better to be silent and smile. So, have I changed my personality thanks to silence and smile? The answer is YES to a certain extent. But some time, I am still that talkative chatterbox child in an enlarged body with occasional serious and aggressive looks. But I view silence as one of the answers to all the challenges that we face in life whereas smile is one of the best reactions for almost every situation in life in a deeper sense.
In our daily life we can see that smile is the most beautiful thing by which one looks most beautiful. People have two things on their lips, “Silence and Smile”, Smile can solve problems while silence can avoid problems. Smiling is infectious, you can catch it like the flu; someone smiled at me today, and I started smiling too. Smiling is like a virus; it’s contagious like other viruses, spreading from person to person. It spreads in many forms, even reading, therefore this write-up on smiling should improve your mood (thinking of smiling releases endorphins in your brain, so your mood slightly improves).
People usually smile when feeling pleasant. When experiencing positivity, the neuronal signals travel from your cortex to your brainstem. Then, the cranial muscle carries the signal towards the smiling muscles in your face. Sounds simple? However, that’s only where it starts. Once smiling muscles in your face contract there is a positive feedback loop that goes back to your brain and reinforces your good feeling. To put it succinctly, smiles occur when our brain feels good, it sends messages to our facial muscles telling us to smile, and we smile and tell our brain that we feel good, and so forth. Moreover, the chemicals cause you to be healthier, and therefore smiling might just be as good as exercise.
Smiling has already changed the world, the theory of evolution (arguably) proves that humans have descended from apes. When a monkey bares its teeth, flattens its ears and tightens its throat muscles, it’s because they are afraid and bracing for a fight, so want to provoke the same feelings of fear in their opponent. However, when a human bares its teeth, flattens its ears and tightens its throat muscles, it is as a friendly gesture or to show that it’s feeling pleasant emotions.
Silence and Smile are two very powerful tools. Smiling can help us solve problems and being silent helps us avoid problems. Those who cannot understand our silence probably cannot understand our words. As professionals, we often face complex challenges that require a calm, thoughtful approach.
Sugar and salt may be mixed together but ants reject the salt and carry away only the sugar. Select the right people in life and make your life better and sweeter. If you failed to achieve your dreams, change your ways, not your God. Remember, the tree changes their leaves and not their roots. You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones to every dog that barks.Haters will see you walking on water and says it’s because you can’t swim. Even if you dance on water, your enemies will accuse you of raising dust.Make it your ambition to live a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your own hands.Remember, don’t ever wrestle with a pig. You will both get dirty but the pig will enjoy it. Karma says, “Silence is the best answer for all questions and Smile is the best reaction in every situation.
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