There's a lot of noise.
We're surrounded by it.
Whether it's coming from the internet, television, radio, frequencies that cannot be detected by the human senses, friends, family, yourself, strangers when you're trying to have a quiet coffee at your local cafe, whatever, wherever...we are constantly bombarded by it.
This can make an already potentially difficult stay on this planet as a human even more intense.
What effect do you think it has on your body, your mind, your spirit?
I could go on about the science behind it and how it can affect your nervous system etc. but I won't.
Just think stress and how it can negatively impact you on many different levels.
You can easily find that information online if you have the itch to search for it.
What I want to provide you with is three steps (plus a bonus fourth) that you can take to support your journey here on planet Earth despite the bombardment and maybe even thrive in spite of it.
Special thanks to the twitchy.witch on TikTok for the inspo for this piece. She intended the three steps to be for how you tune in to you intuition and it is absolutely great for that but I thought it was also great for a quieter head space and therefore happier life. Two birds.
1. Detach.
You heard right. Detachment can be a good thing. It just depends on what you're talking about.
Detaching from your own special blend of noise created by your mind, your ego and the noise created by people and situations in your surroundings.
Realising that your thoughts, especially ones that can be of the manic or depressed variety and everything in between, are not you.
Same goes for friends, family and even strangers that project their own manic, depressed, anxious etc. thoughts onto you.
- these (thoughts/ego) not especially intelligent or inciteful (I'm not talking about the person behind the thoughts, they can be super intelligent but the ego can lie and therefore distort reality);
- they (thoughts/ego) do not know what is best for you (they can by saving you from that illusive tiger but if there is no actual tiger, chances are your panicky thoughts are full of shit and should be, for the most part, acknowledged and allowed to float away into the ether. See below for more info below on what the fuck I'm talking about).
Thoughts are the byproduct of an organic super computer (your brain) and it's just a way for your brain to process (on a daily basis) the inconceivable amounts of information it's trying to prepare, catalogue, organise and archive for potential later use.
Thoughts are also created by the ego.
Ego is a part of you that evolved or was invented by God (universe/spirit/energy) or a little of both or none of the above (I don't know which, I wasn't there) to stop you from sticking your tongue in an electrical socket just to see what it feels like or going up to a wild lion because his mane is so 80's and cool, you just need a selfie with him.
The ego is a primal part of you that keeps you safe. But we as a species have evolved, rather quickly in fact, and there are no tigers (generally speaking) that we need to run from.
Unfortunately, that same system that was originally created to save you from making poor decisions has not been upgraded to a version apt for 2022, where we are not wild and constantly needing to be "on" just in case an animal is around the corner preparing to make you its lunch.
We now associate deadlines, relationship troubles, our boss and getting the kids to school on time (as well as other favourites) with that same "running from a tiger" feeling. Even though we don't need to.
Believing that your thoughts are things that you need to constantly pay attention to and heed is ridiculous and an out of reach task.
You'd get more out of making a tally of the individual grains of sand on a mile long beach. More meditative. Better for your nervous system.
So yes, separate yourself from your ego, your thoughts and even the people around you. Sounds harsh but keep reading to get the full picture.
2. Observe.
Once you have successfully detached from your thoughts, ego and people, this is when you can pull up an easy chair, lay back and observe those thoughts and folks that come up to you to spout their special kind of drivel and see why they come up in the first place.
You can look at what emotions start to rise within you, where that emotion comes from and ask yourself these questions:
Does it have an origin?
Is that emotion solid, vapour or something else?
Does it have a colour or a sound?
Where is it located in your body?
Can doing certain things to it make it bigger/more intense or smaller, where it starts to dissipate?
You can use the answers to these questions to make it easier for you to respond from a rational place instead of reacting.
And if it's a person spitting fire at you:
What is their body language telling you?
Are they comfortable in their own skin or do they look awkward?
Is this really about me or are they upset about something deeper?
When you are detached and observing from a non reactive standpoint, situations are much easier to digest.
Now, you're an impartial witness watching the situation, safe and sound from your observation deck.
3. Understand.
When you impartially observe both yourself and your surroundings from a detached viewpoint, you can non-judgmentally notice the things that are happening with a kind of scientific-cum-empathic curiosity.
When you're not attached to the outcome of any situation, you can view life by how it is, not by how it looks through your filters (which are almost always foggy as shit btw).
Things just don't get to you anymore when you understand the why of things.
Why people are nasty, why you get triggered, why there's so much injustice (that's not to say to detach yourself from everything and therefore never do anything about anything ever again btw).
Understanding allows you to be compassionate and therefore not affected by the intrusive thought, person or situation.
4. Bonus fourth step - consciously reduce the noise around you
You know that saying, "you are what you eat," well, it's because you are. The food you ingest literally turns into the cells that make up your body.
Eat a lot of food with little to no nutritional value and your cells will be weak, easily damaged and susceptible to illness.
This is the same with what you consume of the non edible variety.
What you watch, read, listen to, talk about, think about and who you hang with literally turns into you (and can spread to others around you).
These things affect your frequency. Your frequency can run from a scale of low to high and everything in between.
When you consume things where, for example, you learn about something beneficial to your health, whether that be body, mind or spirit, that can raise your frequency which improves your state of being and therefore your health and wellness.
The same goes for spending time in nature, being genuinely grateful for your life and being generous for no other reason than it feels good to something nice for someone.
On the other hand, if you're constantly watching depressing things on TV or reading about violence, listening to music that is degrading women, eating junk food, talking shit about others, stealing, lying, getting high etc. this naturally lowers your frequency, therefore increasing the stress hormone cortisol which can lead to all manner of illness of the body and mind.
It's pretty simple - look after yourself and it will be easier to practice non attachment.
If Buddha spoke about it so passionately, there's got to be something to it, right?
I'm not a Buddhist btw. I just look at all different modes of thought, living and practices and take what makes sense to me, leave the rest.
Oh and I can change my mind quite easily too if something that makes more sense comes along. Keeping the brain flexy. It's the only way to grow.
Got any questions on what I talked about here? Reach out. I'm available.
Sending you heaps of love.
Rx
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