Can you be alone and quiet, without music playing, or TV on? Can you simply sit and be still in silence, with YOU? Are you walking around unconscious, asleep?
It seems that everywhere I go there is “human” noise, intentional and unintentional, of some kind covering up the peace of quiet.
One day:
Bank - music playing from small radio on the counter. Advertisement broadcasting on two TV screens with sound. Two people in line talking on cell phones and yes, one at the counter talking on cell while doing transactions.
Restaurant for lunch – music playing through overhead sound system. 14 TVs, all on. I asked the server to turn the music down and was told it was company policy that it must be on and they could not turn it down.
Grocery store – music playing, announcements, TV monitors blaring news
Gas station – music playing inside through overhead sound system, TV screens at the pumps, all on, all blaring advertising with sound loud enough to be heard while in the car. And here’s the best – speakers mounted on the top of the building playing music.
Bookstore – music playing overhead. Different music playing in coffee area. And yes, speakers outside playing more music.
Friend’s house – TV on in kitchen while eating and talking.
MY POINT? What is all this noise for and what role does it play in MY life? Just notice. Notice how you are as you begin to notice the noise you may have never noticed before.
Most of my life I needed the noise. I played the radio the minute I started my car. I turned the TV on as I walked in the house (before taking off my coat). I would eat in front of the TV. Work had music playing throughout the building, all day. I was entrenched in the noise, needed the noise, and did not even notice. It was when I began to slow down, to listen, and to look at my daily experience that I found it letting go of me.
I discovered I needed the noise to block out all of the obsessive and excessive thinking going on inside my head. Once I began looking; being still and intentionally looking at my thoughts, I quickly saw there was so much there I just could not handle it. The noise, the music, etc. was my buffer. It was a buffer to separate me from my thoughts and I was not aware at all of any of what I was doing. I thought I just liked music and TV. In fact, even as I began to question it all I still told myself it was just that I really liked music.
Well, I do like music, and today I can listen when I choose to. Now, listening to music is no different for me than doing anything else – when I am listening to music, that’s what I am doing. It no longer plays the role of covering up my obsessive mind.
Try it. See how you experience yourself as you attempt to be still, just sitting, with yourself, in silence. There is no need to try to meditate, or anything else, just see if you can take a few minutes – planned minutes – to simply sit quietly. Or, turn you car radio off on the drive today, even just for a few minutes, and notice how it feels. Notice as you do this, how it is for you. You may just find, as I did, that you don’t know YOU, and you can’t be WITH yourself, alone and in silence.
If this is your experience, well, offer gratitude for the gift of self-loving awakening!
Turn off the noise and awaken to you!
Jim McDonald is the author of Who Would I Be Without - Based on a True Story of a Little Willingness. He shares his powerful message of self-awareness and inner peace through printed materials, presentations, workshops and coaching sessions.
As a sought-after Speaker, Facilitator and Coach, Jim McDonald uses an enriching blend of teaching styles and traditions. After acquiring a Bachelor of Arts degree specializing in Interpersonal Communication and Group Leadership, Jim spent sixteen years honing his group facilitation and public speaking skills as a corporate Training & Development professional. His continuing education includes an 18-month Gestalt Experience Training Program, and Gestalt Appreciative Inquiry approach to Personal Coaching.
Jim has recognized personal victory over his lifelong struggle with codependency and addictions through the active synthesis of openness, honesty, spirituality and willingness into his daily living. His daily practice is dependent upon the suspension of judgment through looking directly at it - a process that continually deepens his joining with others.
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