Allow that uncomfortable silence to remain unfilled in that embarrassing moment.

When you're with another person, or in a group of people perhaps around a dinner table, have you ever noticed in those most unexpected moments when a sudden and uncomfortable silence pours in, you feel compelled to fill it with something? You think anything would feel better than that temporary nothing now demanding your attention and everyone else's attention. What is it within you that wants to rush and fill it in? Among other unconscious and self-compromising ideas is the belief that unless you do it -- or someone does -- that the ensuing moment of unfilled space is somehow a formal indictment of social unsuitability! In other words, this silent spot, if left unanswered, will prove that you're not that clever, all-knowing conversationalist you hope others see you as being. Just for the record, everyone involved feels this same brief attack of personal panic.

But for us the lesson in moments such as these is to come awake to ourselves and therein to see that this perceived moment of terrible emptiness feels like a pain. In other words, pressure makes you jump in. Don't jump in. Turn around instead. Learn to watch these moments and to use them to be in touch with the inner man, the inner woman, whose True Nature doesn't fear anything, let alone a moment of silence! Working to put yourself in touch with your own fearless, silent Self will change your relationship with yourself and life.