For the past fifteen years, on the first and third Mondays of each month, I have practiced silence, meaning that for twenty-four hours I do not speak. The journey began on a winter day in 1992 when, without deliberation, planning, or expectations, and certainly with no idea it would become a personal odyssey of exploration and discovery, I decided to set aside a single day and go without talking. This was a practice that has transformed my life and continues to do so, changing my life in ways I could not have imagined. It has been one of my greatest teachers, giving me a center from which to live, strengthening me, testing me, and facilitating deep healing.