Silence

 There are various ways to be silent that have nothing to do with prayer or meditation.  I can be silent on a bus or walking down the street, or driving my car, but in these activities I am usually engaged with things, events of the world.  That is, I am thinking about stuff, or talking to myself, or even following a mental story in my head.  The silence of prayer that will deepen me is when I disengage from things of the world.  I stop focusing on outside stuff or stuff inside my mind.  Prayer will come naturally if I disengage from external activity or my focus on such externals.  We have an innate capacity for prayer, but we let our busy or crazy minds control us, so we don’t know this.  You can be still by not moving physically.  But the mind might be racing.