The noise outside

I wanted to wake up at five o'clock this morning. I didn't have anywhere to be at early today, but I did want some quiet time to meditate...and breathe. It seems that breathing is easier when my mind is at rest and quiet. I woke up at seven instead. Although the house was quiet and my son was still sleeping, the world around me had woken up and was buzzing with noise and activity.

Landscapers are mowing lawns, trimming edges and blowing leaves outside of my neighbors' house. The sounds annoy me, clutter my mind and distract me. These sounds, though, are normal for our community. We have become used to loud machines around us, car horns honking, neighbors screaming after their dogs, house alarms going off, loud engines, loud music and more. We are numb to the noise pollution.

The problem is that the noise outside has become the noise within. The constant noise from tv and the internet, not necessarily the noise we can measure in decibels, but the noise that comes charged with opinions, judgments, news and pre-packaged thoughts, muddles our capacity to think. The noise outside, the noise within, interferes with our ability to listen to our intuition. The loud noises around us, within us, speed up our pace and our heartbeats making it harder to breathe.

As I sit here and sip my coffee, I enjoy what I can this morning–the beautiful morning sun, the flowers outside my window. Yet I admit that I am not fully here. My thoughts are interrupted by the hubbub. There will be no meditation and no yoga for me this morning. I write on my to-do list: Be quiet. I will find a time and a place to just sit for a few minutes and re-connect to the Spirit within. In stillness and silence I gain strength, calmness and peace of mind and I find harmony with the world around me. I can't change the noise outside, but I can do something about the noise within.