Sound of silence!

In the sound of silence I find myself feeling a sense of calm and peace. It’s getting more and more natural everyday. What exactly do I mean by sound of silence? For me, it’s when you allow the chatter of the thoughts to subside and listen beyond that. It’s when you focus on your breath and you start hearing the breath as you inhale air in, and exhale air out, or listen to any sound that’s surrounding you. May it be the the chirping of the birds like I hear right now, or the sound of the breeze that’s coming through, or other vehicle sounds, or any other sound you hear in your vicinity and those faint noises in the distance. But beyond it all, I hear a sound that I can only describe maybe similar to the static sound you’d hear on a radio. I’m not entirely sure if I’m doing it justice by the way I’m describing it. What I mean to say is that the static sound is not annoying or a nuisance at all as the moment I hear this sound of silence, it’s usually followed by a feeling of peace and bliss.

Well it makes sense because in the moment I’m that in tuned with my senses and entirely focused on the sounds, I’m in the present moment. Worry cannot exist in the present moment as it’s only existent in our minds as we imagine/anticipate our future or dwell on a past memory. So naturally, when the thoughts are not overtaking your mind and you’re not living in the past or the future, all you’ve got is this moment right now. In the moment right now, in the present moment, there can only exist peace and calm. It really does feel blissful.

The more I meditate, the more present I am everyday, the more clarity and awareness that seeps in. As I’m able to bring my awareness to every moment and everything I do, it translates in to any task I carry out. May it be eating, walking, conversing or writing, I’m able to do all of them more mindfully. It allows me to do all things the way it seems natural and allow myself go with the flow and not in the way I think it is supposed to be done, which stems from our learnt conditioned beliefs.

The more I’m able to be present, the more everything seems to just fall into place. Any thought that is worrisome or is troubling me, ceases, and I’m able to view everything just as it is. Taking the phrase, “it is what it is” in a literal sense, being able to view anything and everything for what it really is, just as it is. Looking at a thought, may it be “I’m feeling sick”, or a thought process of how something didn’t pan out the way you planned it, it only becomes worrying and leading to feeling negatively (sad, frustrated, angry or disappointed) because we have assigned it to be bad. Any thought is simply a thought till we assign it to be good or bad. To try give a better example of this; when I was visiting my friend at her place where we got around to do a bit of painting, while I was immersed in the act of painting which was unfamiliar to me but allowed me to be fully present and feel super relaxed and relax into it, she told me how the music that’s being blared by her neighbour is becoming quite annoying. I noticed in that moment how until she brought it to my attention I didn’t notice it at all. It’s not that I didn’t hear the noise, I did, I just hadn’t registered the noise I heard as a rude, harsh, noise in my head, I’ve simply viewed it as a sound. That is why it didn’t bother me because I didn’t assign good or bad, or register it as a noise in my mind but merely a sound  which is all that it was. It didn’t lead me to feeling annoyed or wanting to control the situation but allowed me to merely be an observer of it.

Similarly I find myself not being affected by the a flock of crows cawing right next to me while I sit down to meditate. I know there was a time when it would’ve driven me mad, annoyed me, and made me want to change the location where I intended to meditate at, or find a place that’s more calm and quiet. But now, it’s just a sound and that helps me even more to focus on the sound and be present and get to a meditative state even faster as it’s not associated in my brain to be something I register as a nuisance. It has also made me understand that the peace we are looking for externally by trying to control how things work in our lives from the most mundane to the most complex, or feeling the illusion of control by trying to know the outcome every step of the way is not allowing us to attain the peace we are looking for. We may feel a bit of peace very momentarily at times in those moments where we think we were able to control the outcome, but in the grand scheme of things, it was never in our control anyway. Even if it does bring a sense of peace and satisfaction in the moment, it is fleeting, and very momentary.

The more we are able to delve in to the peace within, access that state of stillness, it’s a constant state of peace throughout your day and throughout your life if you allow yourself to tap into it. Trust me when I say this inner peace you feel would definitely translate in to your external reality and would leave you feeling extremely surprised as to how grateful you feel everyday. It may even lead your heart to fully open, to feel so much emotion of love and peace within you to a point that may even overwhelm you! It’s not a bad thing at all though.

When in a world where we see a lot of bad, how wonderful would it be if we can all feel love, peace and compassion all the time with no judgement or bias. Just something to ponder on.

I urge you to take a moment right now to be present, bring your awareness to the breath, or the sounds, or watch your thoughts, or do all the above. Let yourself be in this moment and be open to the next, and continue it for at least a few minutes and notice how that feels. Maybe the next time you are having a meal, even if it’s not throughout the meal, try to be present with the first few bites you take in. See how it feels in your mouth, how it tastes, and how you feel as the food goes down in your body as it digests. This would allow you to be more in touch with your body, understand what it likes and it doesn’t. Trust me your body will be really grateful for you for doing this! 😇