Shhh……. Listen…..

For the next one minute, just close your eyes and listen.  Count the number of distinct sounds that you hear….. Did you pick out anything new?  Did you pick out anything you have not heard recently? A moving car? A chirping bird? Shuffling of papers? A child’s chuckle? Running water? Foots steps? A rumbling stomach? Laughter in the distance? A barking dog? A wailing siren? A chiming clock? A ticking watch? A cough? A beeping cell phone? Clinking of cutlery?

We are all probably familiar with the expression – stop and smell the flowers. In our twenty first century world, where everything moves at breakneck speeds, we are often too rushed to be sufficiently aware of what is going on around us.  With all the technology that we have built around ourselves, we have created numerous humming background noises that drown out the rest of the world and we have lost the value of our sense of hearing. The five common senses are our bodies’ tools for interaction and connecting with the world.  Recent developments in information technology have resulted in an overflow of information and an also resulted in a competition among the senses around which sense is used to bring in more information.  As a result, most information now comes to use through the eyes.  We read newspapers, phone messages, emails; we even watch television in mute mode and read the transcripts, because we have submitted to a dominant background noise.  We read more and listen less.  We smell less and taste even less.  And with the definition of personal space, we touch even less.

Besides connecting with the world, the five senses are also meant to help us connect with ourselves.  While we have built all these alternative ways of connecting with the world through visual text, we have not built any ways of connecting with ourselves.  With time, we have lost our self-connection, our self-awareness.  When I grew up, my mother would retreat to take a nap and say that she needed “to listen to herself”.  By stepping back every so often and letting all our senses reach out, our bodies respond by expressing themselves to be “heard”.  You “hear” your digestive system turn as if to confirm that it is present and on duty!  You feel a sensation on your skin as if it acknowledges your attention.  The hairs at the back of your head stand and confirm that they are still part of you. 

In his various writings, Eckhart Tolle talks about being present in the now, which is about total self-awareness on a present continuous basis?  The beauty of it is that anyone can achieve self-awareness.   They only have to stop and “listen to themselves”.  Besides the heighted awareness for self-awareness’ sake, listening to yourself will make you happier and healthier.  Having your body in constant self-conversation will improve your body’s ability for self-repair and maintenance.  Listening to yourself will make you appreciate yourself and your environment, rediscover the parts of your environment that have been drowned out making you more at ease.

So, next time you find yourself in a noisy, rushed, tired, stress state, just stop, and listen…… to yourself.