Silence Before Speech: Proverbs 29:11

Neville's Inner Vision

I tell you, the tongue is the outward echo of your inner state. When I am agitated or hungry for validation, I utter all I think, and call it honesty, yet I am only the fool of the page. But when I rest in the I AM—aware, spacious, and unprovoked—the words I release carry the weight of discernment rather than the heat of impulse. The wise man keeps his mind in and his mouth still until the proper moment, letting the inner question ripen into a clear answer. In this light, every sentence is a mirror of your consciousness; speak too soon and you broadcast a restless state; speak after and you reveal a settled truth. Practice: close the lips of reaction, imagine the situation as it would be if your desired outcome already existed, and let your speech be the natural ripple that follows the inner peace you have already assumed. When you revise in imagination first, your words become a junction where inner reality and outer speech meet.