Hi — how have you been feeling lately?
Me, I’ve been untethered, ungrounded, and generally uncomfortable.
When I get like this, a meditation using the natural sounds around me help drag me back to reality — and not the stressful realm of anxiety that we often mistake of reality, but THE REAL, without the stuff we tack onto it.
I’m not talking about recorded ambient sounds here, but the real sounds of your environment.
What do you do with noise during your quiet times?
Few of us get absolute quiet during a meditation session or in our lives, and that can be an advantage if we make it one.
What are the sounds you hear right now? In this moment, sitting in the parlor of my antique house, our arthritic refrigerator hums, my dog snores beside me, my cranky ancient oil furnace rumbles deep down in the field stone foundation. Outside, cars pass, wind rustles the trees, car doors slam as my neighbors bring their children home. There will be a train passing through town shortly, sounding its horn as it reaches the crossing.
Where are you taking your five minutes—on your way to or from work? Driving, or on public transportation? In a waiting room? In line at the ATM? Are you perhaps walking on a sidewalk or on a trail?
Focus on the surrounding sounds, and give each a name. How many sounds can you find? Are you surprised at the number you collect if you keep listening and naming?
Note, if there are negative or annoying sounds in your environment, one way to neutralize them is to “denature” them. Separate your feeling of annoyance from the sound. Observe your body’s reactions. Recognize how your body as surround by these sounds, but your Self is unaffected. Think about how your eardrums process sound waves; they accept all, judge none. Each sound is the same as another in the auditory processing region of your brain. Learn to focus on that, rather than the part of the brain that judges.
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