Our lives are typically filled with sound. There are sounds from the outside world that we cannot control like the fire truck racing by or an airplane overhead, and there are the sounds we allow into our lives like the tv in the background or the music playing in our earbuds. These sounds become noise when the seemingly innocuous sources (like a shower radio) allow us to avoid dealing with uncomfortable thoughts and emotions. In this way using sound as a distraction numbs us to what may be internally bubbling up to the surface — what our attention is calling for us to notice and heal.
Sound as a distraction can affect us in many ways. It can help us stay numb to emotions that we don’t want to feel, allow us to avoid dealing with decision-making, distract us from having to process, and make it easier for us to escape reality. But drowning out the thoughts and emotions we find uncomfortable or overwhelming prolongs the emotions, requiring them to speak louder to be heard.
By tuning out noise and relishing silence, we can create the space to experience and express what is happening. Then that self-exploration can begin in earnest; It becomes easier to let our strongest feelings come forth, deal with them, and find new ways of resolving our hearts & minds. Free of the need for noise, we can accept our pain, anger, frustration and regret as they come up and turn them into opportunities to evolve. Essentially, when we go within without the veil of noise to shield us from ourselves, we’re able to figure out what we need to heal.
