What is a Good Life? #148
Finding Silence In A World Full Of Noise with Leigh Marz
On the 148th episode of What is a Good Life?, I welcome Leigh Marz, a collaboration and leadership coach for major universities, corporations, and federal agencies. She has led training programs to promote an experimental mindset among teams at NASA and a decade-long cross-sector collaboration to reduce toxic chemicals in products, in partnership with Green Science Policy Institute, Harvard University, IKEA, Google, and Kaiser Permanente. Leigh coauthored Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise and cofounded Astrea Strategies, helping leaders bridge contemplation and action.
In this conversation we explore silence as a living presence—how inquiry, pauses, and shared quiet unlock better thinking, connection, and wellbeing. We cover mapping noise (auditory, informational, internal), flow states, and why slowing down in groups sparks novel solutions.
This episode invites listeners to rediscover silence as a living teacher — one that reveals what truly matters when we’re quiet enough to hear it.
The weekly clip from the podcast (1 min), my weekly reflection (2 mins), the full podcast (61 mins), and the weekly questions all follow below.
1. Weekly Clip From The Podcast
2. My Weekly Reflection
This week’s conversation was with Leigh Marz, co-author of Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise. Here are a few lines that stayed with me.
“It’s intimate to be quiet together.”
“Slow down, there isn’t much time.”
– Unknown source
“Silence is not silent at all. It’s teeming with life and joy and ecstasy.”
— Shabda Kahn
“Our silence is magnified when it’s shared.”
“Words don’t break the silence, but an agenda does.”
– Shared by a participant in one of the Silent Conversations I host
“We couldn’t get at the important questions for all the noise coming at us.”
“Silence helps me see where that celebration and that honouring are needed.”
“A good life is one where I can respond to what matters most.”
These were quotes from this week’s podcast — all of the ones not ascribed are from Leigh.
I wanted to let these words breathe before reflecting further.
When researching for her book, Leigh and her coauthor had a favourite question they asked people from many walks of life:
“What’s the deepest silence you’ve ever known?”
The responses surprised them. Sometimes they came from loud places, or from moments of death, birth, and awe.
At first, they wondered whether people had misunderstood the question.
Then they realised they were being shown the way — silence as a presence was what they were hearing.
“The deepest silence, these moments when we step out of time and space.”
In this discussion, Leigh suggests three forms of noise: auditory (sound in our environment), informational (messages, news, notifications, data), and internal (self-talk).
So even if it’s quiet around you, you might still be on your phone — or even without distraction, your own thoughts might be loud.
While they were specific about noise, Leigh and Justin were expansive about silence and people’s experiences of it.
Whatever silence means to you, we could probably all do with more of it.
If life feels like it’s on autopilot, or the bombardment of information is too much — if there’s a lack of novelty or a sense that our relationships are skimming along the surface — it’s simpler than we think to drop deeper into this life.
I’m working long hours at present and without experiences of silence I could easily see how I could tip over into burnout. Walks with my daughter are the perfect invitation or foil right now.
However you experience silence, pockets of it can’t help but reveal novelty.
Life is completely abundant with it; we rarely make the time or space, or experience enough stillness to notice.
In all the interviews I’ve conducted around the question “What is a good life?” people found it in many different ways.
Sure, meditation was one, but also sitting on a park bench, a bike ride without headphones, gardening — it was experienced in many forms.
Sometimes even in conversation.
Nothing brings me closer to realising what matters most than experiences of silence.
A considerable cornerstone of my own good life is tending to whatever that present realisation is.
And it’s often the path of subtraction, rather than addition, that brings me that clarity.
Work with me
If your team feels pulled apart by competing realities, keeps circling the same issues, or struggles to talk about the hard stuff, I help leadership teams find the space to think, reflect, and reconnect — to feel coherent again to lead in uncertain times.
Get in touch if that sounds familiar and you’d like to explore half-day workshops.
Thanks for reading What is a Good Life?
3. Full Episode - Finding Silence In A World Full Of Noise with Leigh Marz - What is a Good Life? #148
4. This Week’s Questions
What is the deepest silence you’ve ever known?
Who in your life helps you feel quiet inside, even when you’re talking?
About Me
I am a coach, facilitator, and podcast host, based in Berlin, via Dublin, Ireland. I started this project in 2021, for which I’ve now interviewed over 300 people. I’m not looking to prescribe universal answers, more that the guests’ lines of inquiry, musings, experiences, and curiosities spark your own inquiry into what the question means to you. I am also trying to share more genuine expressions of the human experience and more meaningful conversations.
If you’re interested in exploring your own self-inquiry through one-on-one coaching or helping your leadership teams feel more coherent and together in uncertain times, feel free to contact me via email or LinkedIn.