Turn Off the Noise

All that Noise
A friend pointed out there's a lot of noise around us.

The different people in our lives make demands on us. Sometimes it's a demand for time and energy, while others are more emotional pulls. And when these energies come together, there's just a lot of noise and we cannot focus. In fact, the noise is so overpowering that it affects us emotionally, physically and spiritually. We take our frustrations on others around us who do not deserve it, or worse, on ourselves. We've got ourselves wrapped into a strait jacket of guilt and anxiety.

Rather than solutions, we look for temporary ways to drown out the noise. For example, it's like turning up the radio to block out the construction outside our window. Yes, that worked. But, now you can't hear the person next to you because it's doubly noisy.

However, we don't need to drown out all the noise. Within the cacophony is a signal. There is an indicator that would guide us to where we need to be, and show us on what we need to focus. We do need to listen for it.

How to Find the Signal

Sorry, I can't tell you how to discern the signals from the noise. You need to figure it out for yourself.

Some people find it purposeful to become quiet so they can hear through meditation. Others find it on the golf course or going running close to nature. Maybe someone else needs to unplug from electronic media or seek a temporary respite away from home. Someone may want to bake cookies or decorate cakes (and maybe send them to me!) to feel calmer.

The signal we need to hear through the noise is really our true purpose - what do we need to do to achieve our desired results. Here's another way to look at it. Let's say you are a waiter at a restaurant. There's a lot of demands from everyone around you - the managers, customers, kitchen staff. You run ragged trying to meet everyone's expectations. Within all that noise, you need to find the signal. What is your true purpose in this role? If you believe it is to deliver food to your customers as requested, that's the focus. And then everything falls magically into place and quiets down!

Probably not. But, at least you know you're doing the right thing at that moment.

All I can say is that everyone is unique and we have our own mechanisms for finding our signals. We've done it before and we need to do it again. Otherwise, we probably would not have gotten out of bed in the morning.

Our challenge is to know that the noise is all superficial. In the big picture, these are just blips. We're just humans living on this interconnected planet for the short time we're here, we need to find our own signal among the noise we've created.