Noise.
I think it gets louder every day. I’m not talking about the sounds that I hear, although I could be.
With more and more electronic devices, more and more voices screaming to be noticed, and more and more vehicles on the freeway on my drive to work, silence in the environment is starting to become a rarity, a premium.
But that kind of noise is easy to escape, if only for a short period of time.
The kind of noise I’m talking about now is different.
It’s the noise of a thousand unresolved questions that linger on the outskirts of your awareness. It’s a multitude of clever comebacks that you wish you’d had at the time of a disagreement, or that the things that you wanted to say that were too afraid to speak the truths of your heart.
Or maybe it’s the fears you carry for a future that is undetermined, and possibly unkind.
These are the noises that echo through your soul as you try to find peace.
So it’s no wonder that we are beginning to hear the groundswell of a chorus begging us to return to the present, through the practice of mindfulness and meditation.
As someone who has tried sitting quietly, calming my mind revealing my soul, I’ll tell you that a thousand unexpected thoughts clamor for my attention whenever I try to focus on something as simple as breathing.
But if I am to find peace in my mind, I have to strive for peace in my soul, and ultimately peace with the world around me.
One of my mentors once taught a very powerful truth that has stayed with me, and I have tried to live closer to the concept every day. He teaches that we need to stop trying to meditate, and instead view our lives as a meditation.
He questions how we can expect to have peace in our soul when we are not a piece with the world around us, with the people we come into contact with, and with those whom we serve.
And sometimes that peace is very difficult to find.
So I’ve begun looking at my life through a simple question, it one that has forced me to understand myself at a much deeper level.
As I begin to filter all of my choices through this question, I find that I am more honest with myself, and more aware of my weaknesses, my needs, and my fears. One small question has brought into sharp focus so many areas of my personality, shining a light into the darkness in revealing the depths of my soul.
“Will this bring me peace?”
Because if each action, each purchase and each word spoken in every moment lived are focused on creating a peaceful life, then maybe I can find within the tranquility of a peaceful mind.
Maybe if I can bring all the different avenues of my life into balance, I can arrive at the point of meditation that requires no effort and no focus, just a quiet acceptance of a life in balance and at peace.
Somehow I don’t think this will be easy, but I think it will be incredibly worth it.
— Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings