Quiet Journal

Introduction

“The quieter you become the more you can hear.”—Baba Ram Dass, Spiritual Teacher

I am fascinated by introversion—and the power that inheres in it—but following the publication of Quiet, I wasn’t expecting my book to reverberate so forcefully. I’m grateful that it has. And I’m indebted to the many readers who have come forward with their own stories of sometimes feeling out of place in a world that seems to worship what I call the Extrovert Ideal. What’s evident in their stories is how much the world has to gain by recognizing the specific gifts that come with an inward focus. 

Many of us have spent years ignoring our preferences and overlooking our strengths. We have been interrupted, spoken over, persuaded into going along with other people’s plans and ideas. 

With this journal, I hope you’ll have the opportunity to explore and develop the strengths of your own temperament. The prompts will help you reconsider some of your existing ideas about shyness, lead you to uncover your hidden assets, and guide you to make the incremental changes that will increase your energy. 

I invite you to answer these questions and work through the exercises without worrying too much about what you write. Don’t overthink your answers. It doesn’t matter how things sound. The space of this journal is a private one, and in our highly digitized lives, that’s a rare thing. So embrace it. No one will read your responses. No one will offer a thumbs-up or counter opinion. It’s not worth coming up with a polished answer to any given prompt, because in that polish, you’d lose something of your inner voice, and that’s the voice you need to listen to. 

By giving yourself the stretch of quiet time necessary for any journaling practice, you’re already ahead of the game. This inner journey is one you have to take alone, but there are many of us walking quietly on our own paths right beside you. 

Susan Cain