Silent retreat: dropping the outward concern

Silent indeed only means that we start with us, of dropping this concern about what to say, how to behave, you know being nice to everyone smiling. So now we are making no eye contact, nothing. We are dropping all the seeming outward concern, so that our focus can just be given on this, what is being shared? Who am I? What is my reality? All this energetic wastage that can happen in day to day life, of trying to be a certain way, keeping a self image, trying to be a nice person, communicate well with people, all that is being dropped. So that is already giving you a lot of reserves to be able to contemplate and see these things, because energy is not being wasted on this outward. The other point of being in silence is that as you start to experience your own silence, and you are in a silent environment, you will find that our sensitivity to other things like thoughts might actually increase.