Christopher Parsons is a writer and speaker on inner stillness and leadership, guiding high performing founders and executives away from relentless drive towards stillness so they experience a transformational inner reset. Here he shares his thoughts with us on silence as a tool of leadership, to reflect, to reframe, and to reconnect with who you truly are.
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What Are You Doing With Your Silence?
Are you listening to your own silence, or are you avoiding it? In a world dominated by noise and distractions, the silence we carry within can feel uncomfortable, even unnerving. We’re taught to speak up, to perform, to lead—but how often are we taught to listen? To really listen to ourselves?
As a leader, founder, or CEO, silence isn’t just a break from the noise; it’s an essential strategy. One that brings the space to reflect, to reframe, and to reconnect with who you truly are. In the midst of the constant demands, it’s easy to forget that silence isn’t an absence—it’s presence. It’s a tool for transformation.
Let me tell you something personal: recently, I’ve been revisiting memories. Old ones. From school, family, and relationships that shaped who I became. And through silence, I’ve come to see them differently. For so long, I viewed certain experiences as failures, missteps, things I should have done differently. But silence, that deep, quiet presence, gave me a new lens to see it through.
In my school days, I wasn’t the kid who excelled at sports or thrived in competitive environments. I felt like an outsider in a system that didn’t welcome me. For years, I thought I was failing. But in the stillness, I realized something crucial: I wasn’t failing. I was enduring. I was resisting a system that didn’t see me for who I was. Silence reframed that story. Instead of failure, I saw misalignment.
And that’s the power of silence: it allows us to rewrite our narratives. It offers the clarity to change our stories—not because someone tells us to, but because we finally stop and listen to ourselves.
But here’s the hard truth: we’re not just doing this for ourselves. There’s a larger cost when we keep ignoring our inner stillness. When we numb ourselves out with distractions—whether it’s constant scrolling, endless productivity apps, or just noise—we lose touch with the very things that matter. Health suffers. Our relationships fray. We disconnect from what truly matters.
People are dying—literally. Cancer rates are rising. We’re filling our bodies with things that harm us. This wasn’t the case 50 years ago, but today, we’re constantly on the go, always on. And as we numb out, we let important decisions happen around us, without even realizing it.
But I’m not here to make you feel guilty. I’m inviting you into something different. A choice to reclaim your silence, to use it to reconnect with your voice. Silence isn’t about detaching from the world; it’s about showing up fully in it, finding clarity in the chaos, and allowing yourself to be present.
Silence can be a tool of leadership. But it’s not just for personal healing; it’s necessary for your work, for your health, and for the people you lead. The cost of disassociating, of tuning out, is too high.
But here’s the thing: like all of us, I am a work in progress. I’m learning, unlearning, stumbling, and rebuilding—often all in the same week. I used to think I needed to be “done” to show up fully. I spent years waiting for the perfect moment, the healing to be complete, before stepping into the world. But life, as it often does, has a way of reminding me that it’s short and that really being human—that is the work.
So here I am, still growing, still learning, still showing up—imperfect but present. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll know that embracing the unfinished parts of ourselves is where the real magic happens.
So here’s to being beautifully unfinished. To showing up with all the noise, the mess, and the mistakes, and still finding our way. If you’re ready to embrace the power of silence as your strategy, I offer 90 minute silence immersion sessions. These are guided descents into quiet, designed to reconnect you with your inner voice and bring the kind of change only true presence can foster.
Want to find out more? Please contact me Christopher Parsons at parsonsmchristopher@gmail.com