The Antidote to Mental Clutter: Internal Noise To Calm
I’m going to say some words, and if you’re somewhere where you can close your eyes, go ahead and close them, and if not, that’s okay. I want you to pay attention, when you’re ready, to how these words make you feel and maybe what shifts in your body as you hear them Silence, silence, quiet, peace, stillness, tranquility, calm, harmony, order, ease, acceptance, rest, contentment. How do these words make you feel? Take a moment just to notice if there are any shifts that have changed in your body. What do these words have in common? Well, they are the opposites of the word noise.
How much noise is there in your life right now? Noise, both external and internal, pulls us away from what we want to be doing and toward what’s painful or irritating, and we’re hardwired that way. So let me ask again what things would you qualify as noisy things that are drawing your attention away from what you want to be focusing on? Let’s do an inventory. We’ll start with the external. It’s a little bit easier. Maybe there’s someone outside mowing the lawn and you’re trying to write. Maybe it’s someone who doesn’t leave enough space in a conversation and just makes you exhausted. Or maybe it’s the noise of politics and news, social media and the incessant chatter, or it could simply be the noise from the air conditioner when you’re trying to sleep. Internal noise is a little bit more difficult to identify, so I want you just to take a moment to focus there, think about it for a moment. What noisy thoughts might be holding you back? These are the thoughts that are often repetitive, that are almost always negative. Repetitive, that are almost always negative and, pretty much all the time, fear-based.
Now, noise is defined in the dictionary as any sound that is undesired or interferes with one’s hearing of something. The noise in our head prevents us from hearing the voice of our true self, the voice that’s just waiting to be heard. We can make a practice of transforming that internal noise, but not by wasting energy to try and block it out, but rather by summoning its antithesis, the opposite. For instance, if you’re at an event and everyone is socializing, but you and the noisy message says you’re too quiet, you simply respond by saying I am an excellent listener. If you’re exhausted and the noisy message messages saying you aren’t good enough or you’ll fail if you don’t try harder, you simply say I am most effective when I take good care of myself. Or what if it says you’ll never finish what you started, you simply say I am enjoying the process.
You see, the beauty of this world, my friends, and this practice, is that the answers often lie in the opposite. On the other side of darkness is light. You’ve heard it a million times. It’s true we are the ones that created the noise in our heads and we’re also the ones that can transform it. Sometimes we can’t control the external, but we can always control the internal. Close your eyes again and listen. Peace, stillness, tranquility, calm, harmony, calm, harmony, order, ease, Acceptance, rest, contentment. Take a deep breath in. My friends, you’ve got this. Wishing you a great rest of your day.
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