Be Still…
Greeting dear friends & fellow navigators, & welcome to my world this week. Following on from my last article on having quiet korners, sometimes, when the world feels too heavy, I close my ears. I do not do it to escape completely, nor do I do it out of defiance. I do it because there are moments when my brain feels like a sponge & has soaked up too much.
There are tons of distractions, so many shallow conversations & too much of everything, much of which does not matter. So, I press my palms against the sides of my head & in a short second, the world shuts out, just enough to make space for myself again.
We take in so much information without realising it. The endless stream of updates from screens & voices, the chaos & traffic, the need to fill our time to do something productive, it all seeps in.
My mind, eager to always stay alert & productive, gathers it all without discrimination. It does not matter if it is useful or useless, urgent or irrelevant. It collects everything, & when the load becomes too much, I lose sight of the things truly deserving my attention. The music in the background just floods my brain with signals, giving me an illusion I am truly listening, but I have no idea what song is playing. The important gets buried under the trivial, like a whisper swallowed by thunder in the distant sky.
This is when I close my ears. Because when I do, I give my brain a chance to slow down. Not everything deserves an entry. Focus is not about pushing through the noise; it is about choosing what to let in. It is about drawing a boundary around my mental space & saying, this belongs here, & this does not. Closing my ears feels like waking up a gatekeeper inside me, one who finally dares to ask each thought if it is useful or just clutter in disguise.
In this moment when I shut out all the noise, there are glimpses where I can see what I truly want. There is a voice not demanding or even wanting to be noticed, so it is easy to forget it exists in a world screaming out LOUD! But when the excess has been shut out, I can hear it, reminding me of what matters, or where I go, or who I am beneath all my choices.
It makes me realise less can be a gift. We are taught to chase after more, be it information, opinions or updates, to stay on top of everything. But the truth is it does not always make us richer. Sometimes, it leaves us scattered, half present & unable to discern the meaningful from the meaningless. Closing my ears is my way of choosing less so I can feel more, so I can sense myself fully, from the inside out, without interference.
So, it has become a ritual of returning. I am sure it looks concerning from the outside, but from the inside, it feels peaceful. Every time I am overwhelmed, I tell myself I have permission to shut it out. I do not have to absorb it all. I do not have to carry every sound to come my way. I can close my ears &, in this act, open a door back to myself.
Sometimes, to focus on what truly matters, we do not need to add more. Rather, just rest. We just need to let less in.
Just few observations again dear friends & provide an opinion in my world. Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate your being here. If my journey encourages you also, all is well with my soul. Looking forward to next week; this is Kenn Butler in Paradise, Nelson with best wishes.
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