Beneath The Noise, Peace Awaits Us

I don't seem to hear as well these days.

I used to pride myself on being able to hear several conversations at a time in a crowded and noisy setting, and I used that to my advantage in my career. However, lately I seem to have to ask for many conversations to be repeated.

I thought of a friend of mine who wears a hearing aid, and probably enjoys the opportunity to lower it and peacefully reflect as chatter increases in an active room.

There is a quiet whisper that reassures us that everything is okay and it delivers its message with quiet confidence.

We may have noticed that if we want to speak to someone in a noisy, crowded room, the best thing to do is lean close and whisper.

In the 1970s, there was a television commercial to that effect for Nuance perfume ... "If you want to capture someones attention, whisper".

We live in such a busy world of loud noises.

At any time, one can tune in to any one of several news programs, only to hear up to eight people on a split television screen yelling over one another in disagreement.

Yelling in an attempt to be louder than the noise in a room generally only hurts our throat and adds to the subsequent chaotic atmosphere that abounds within the noise.

Similarly, however, there is a strong yet very quiet voice within us that does not even try to compete with the mental chatter that exists on the surface of our minds, nor does it attempt to overpower the volume of the raucous world outside.

It simply waits in silence for us to listen, and is often ignored and neglected.

However, despite its subtle nature, it holds more power that all of the loud and angry voices combined.

It is only when we want to hear it that we need to choose to tune in to that soft, soothing voice that holds so many answers and so much peace for us.

Generally, the more insistent voices in our heads deliver messages that deliver feelings of panic or fear, and are also of questionable authority as they strip us of our faith and meditation.

These voices may generate from childhood fear, or from societal culture.

As such, they barely represent half truths and their urgency is disconnected from our center and balance, which is what catches our attention.

The soft, soothing whisper inside of us -- which is our faith -- reassures us that there is a calmness within the tempest, and that everything is actually okay and offers us a quiet confidence.

Once we hear this, we know it speaks the truth, and we we allow it to capture our attention, the other voices and sounds, previously dominant and negative, fade into the distance and no longer have control over us.

We may even find that our own communications in this world can begin to be influenced by the quiet certainty of this peaceful whisper.

Perhaps we will be less inclined to participate in idle chatter as we become more interested and in tune to the whisper of truth that broadcasts its message like the sound of the wind shaking the leaves of a tree.

As we align ourselves more and more with this quiet whisper, we become an extension of that whisper, and we penetrate the noise of the world, generating a peacefulness with truth and confidence in our faith.

Wishing you peaceful quiet,

Rob