Silence can also be “worked” to help us clarify our minds and make friends with ourselves. The activities proposed by the innovative Health and Wellness area of the energy company Pan American Energy (PAE) are in line with this and contribute to creating a true “wellness culture”.
Being silent is often seen as a kind of “act of cancellation”, whether it is suggested to us or in the event that, in some way, we are self-censoring. But if we use it as a well-being tool, silence could become a source of benefits. In what way can we “work” those silences? How to feel comfortable with the “micro-silence” that is generated in a crowded elevator?
The ‘magic’ of silence
“Befriending silence is necessary; in fact, silence is something like the mixture that unites the bricks. We can have a lot of knowledge, but if we never achieve a silent moment with ourselves, that internal dialogue that allows us to clarify our minds and build our lives will not open. It is not something instantaneous. Although if it becomes a habit, results are soon achieved: that is the value of silence”.
The words correspond to the singing teacher in the Health and Well-being area that Pan American Energy (PAE), the leading energy company in Argentina and the region, has been developing for its employees for years through a series of programs that include activities such as painting, meditation, breathing, theater, rock bands, photographic outings, garden workshops and conversation groups. The proposal works as an invitation to which both company employees and their families can join as and when they want. “We can have a lot of knowledge, but if we never achieve a silent moment with ourselves, that internal dialogue that allows us to clarify our minds and build our lives will not open up”.
This is how you can see how a group that works in the company’s corporate offices decides to “cut” the day to take a theater class or perhaps meditate in a specially equipped room. “Something that we seek through these experiences is to create unique and enriching emotional bonds within the work community”, explains Dr. Leila Cura, PAE’s Health and Well-being manager. It is not for nothing that the pillars of the proposal have to do with integration through informal ties, growth and personal fulfillment, and the possibility of generating links between families and the company, in addition -of course- to promoting health.
Habits for a better life
Certain concepts –such as the need for inner silence– run through the different wellness proposals of PAE, one of whose goals is to help employees find a way to feel better about themselves. “If, for example, we go up in the elevator, there is silence and we are aware, we can then put that into practice as a habit that helps us introspection”, continues the singing reference. And she emphasizes: “There is no way to go through the silence if you are not friends with yourself”.
“Both in photography and in the Brushstrokes of Well-being program, we work a lot on moments of silence,” she adds, for her part, the reference in the art area. “The idea is that nobody rushes us, that we can be in our space of silence and giving rise to our internal questions. No answer is going to be wrong or right: it is about giving rise to one’s own expression. Maybe I go, I walk, I search, I cannot find. I keep walking, I crouch down, I look for an image: I cannot find it either. I go on and on slowly, I listen to the birds. I start to see details, I get abstracted. No one else speaks and suddenly I find what I am looking for. Before my eyes is what I had not seen. I click, and I have it. If each collaborator is well with her environment and with herself, then she will have less anger and in this way the world and the company can begin to harmonize”, affirms Cura. She ends with this statement: “The idea behind all of this is to create a true wellness culture”.
