“I must say that, beyond occasionally exposing me to laughter, my constitutional shyness has been no disadvantage whatever.” ~ Gandhi, Autobiography, p. 62.

If you have ever stood before a group of strangers and been unable to speak; or sat in a group of colleagues, listening intently but not sure about how to get a word in edgewise, consider yourself in the company of the young Mohandas Gandhi. One thing that he used to do to help him overcome his trepidation of speaking before others was to prepare his thoughts in advance, to write them down. Even then, often someone else would need to read them, as he would not be able to. He reflects on this quality of his young self, he suggests that his natural inclination toward silence was only an aid in his spiritual development because a person of few words will measure each word before they speak. “It has allowed me to grow,” he says. “It has helped me in my discernment of truth.”

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About Daily Metta

Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with nonviolence.

Our 2016 Daily Metta continues with Gandhi on weekdays. On weekends, we share videos that complement Michael Nagler’s award-winning book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. To help readers engage with the book more deeply, the Metta Center offers a free PDF study guide.

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