Listening for Silence

It's another day on planet Earth and I'm sitting in my kitchen right next to my open patio door listening to a very gentle rain falling.  There is a stillness and quiet, aside from the rain, of the likes I've never really taken the time to fully appreciate.  I took a deep breath and put all of my focus towards listening for the space in between the sound of the rain drops.  It was quite amusing and not as impossible as one might think.  It reminded me of a place I used to live.  My first California house was on a very busy corner.  It was a cheap fixer upper and all we could afford at the time.  I wondered how I would ever get used to the sound of the cars speeding by at night.  I decided that very first night that I would not allow myself to become agitated or annoyed by the continual hum of traffic.  Instead, I decided to listen for the space in between the cars buzzing by.  I slept like a baby in that house and at other times, I rarely even noticed the traffic as I had trained myself to disregard it.  Soon enough, the sound of the cars began to relax me as I had trained my mind to perceive the sound not as a distraction but as a mere contrast that would send my mind seeking the spaces in between. 

This concept is an important one because if I can train my mind to disregard disruptive engines racing down the street not more than 20 feet from where I laid my head at night and sleep like a baby, what else might I do if I put my mind to it?  I was considering a very stressful time of year I am experiencing at work and I wondered whether I might employ the same principle.  There are days I walk into my office, sit down, handle some urgent matters and various work-emergencies and look up just in time to see it's time for me to go home.  An entire day has sometimes slipped by and I have become frustrated at times at the thought of not having had a single moment to clear my thoughts or do the things I really needed to do.  But listening to the rain tonight, I realized I could have those moments to clear my thoughts.  Just as I did with the cars at night living on a busy street corner, I need only decide the high volume will no longer be something I resist and internally rebel against but something I embrace and instead seek solace in minutes of peace where ever I may find them during the day.  I've not tested this, mind you and I'm having one very stress-filled week.  However, I do not care for stress-filled weeks and I choose my experience so I must also choose to look proactively for peaceful moments and give more attention to feeling those tiny little moments more fully.  I'm up to a challenge and I know some how or some way I can master this as I have come to master anything I have ever set my mind to.

I have seen in my own life how powerful intent, followed by specific thought, positively charged energy with the absence of limits and just breathing in the love and peace truly is.  I look back sometimes and am stunned at what I have both unconsciously and consciously created.  So, well, with some effort, I think I can master this task and will put it into immediate employ the moment I step into my office tomorrow.  I'll have to let you know how it goes for me.  I am remaining curious about the design of my own concept and am looking forward, immensely, to testing it out.  Failure in this leaves me no worse off than I am.  So, I'm better off coming up with a plan to adjust my resistance to the over-abundance of stimuli in the office of late.  If I focus on my resistance and stress, I create more of it.  However, if I totally shift my focus away from stressful or not stressful thoughts and feelings and make a game out of finding minutes - I bet you I can shift my experience rather quickly.  It's funny how we sometimes go through a day letting the people, energy and circumstances just push and pull us without realizing we have a choice about how we experience our day.  Logically, I know this and all too well but apparently -- lately -- I have forgotten and am feeling wound up tighter than a 3-day clock.  I did have a very long and lovely stretch of peace - or, well, a stronger ability to compartmentalize the peaceful versus not peaceful for a time.  But the volume I have to contend with is increasing.  So, it's time for creativity - not stress.  Now, I ramble so will go back to focusing on the rain drops again for a bit - now THAT is peaceful. ~Blessings for infinitely creative thoughts beautiful dreamers.  I know that you too can accomplish any task or mind-set you decide to.  I believe in you.

(c) 2012 Jaie Hart (photo, random internet find)