N.O.I.S.E!

Last year for Christmas I bought my daughter a book about the environment, and ways to be kind to it. I've since decided it's too preachy for young kids, but from time to time I pick it up and flip through it. Today I picked it up, and read a brief section on noise. About how noise can cause all sorts of physical problems including hearing loss and stress, and can cause disruption in our being able to pay attention and learn. And so forth. I thought it was interesting, and made sense. It got me thinking about the whole concept of what it means to find balance and peace in our lives. I believe whole-heartedly that noise can cause stress. And I believe that noise comes in different forms. There is the obvious - the noises we hear around us. The book focused on traffic noise. I think also of television, music, people. People! This weekend I found myself feeling anxious, in part because the people in my immediate environment were being noisy. Now there is soothing noise and very un-soothing noise. I had people conflicting in what they wanted to do over the weekend, so the "soothing" noise of one person conflicting with the "soothing" noise of another resulted in very un-soothing noise - conflict. Oh..... Not soothing at all. As I've mentioned in the past, I am a person who finds the world to be an abrasive place, and I have trouble filtering things out, so I hear it all, I feel it all. Ouch. It makes my spine hurt! (That's where I carry my tension - neck, shoulders, head...) I think it is a priority in my life to find some quiet every day. Not easy! Even when I'm upstairs enjoying some "peaceful" sewing time (hubby and I switch breaks every day) I can hear conflict downstairs. And it's very hard to turn the noise off in my own head. (Another form of noise!) How I admire those who can! I am always processing. Always. Even when I do yoga I worry about my son, who seems concerned that I'm upside down and stretching myself out in strange ways! Perhaps a study of meditation would bring some quiet. But until then, I think we all could benefit from taking ourselves away from the noise of our lives and place ourselves in a quiet environment. Hm. As I write this I am sitting in my home, and the only sound I hear other than my own typing is the sound of the refrigerator motor. What a rare calm. Nice! Of course I can imagine that there can be too much quiet, too. My father lives alone, and has company once in a while. For me, that would be entirely too much quiet, and I would seek noise out! So like everything in life, there is a balance. And it's up to us to find that balance for ourselves. And I've noticed that as I've gotten older that "noise balance" has changed a LOT. When I was a kid, I created a very noisy environment around myself. I did it on purpose. I think I depended on external noise to drown out the internal noise. Now it is quite the opposite. I seek quiet to allow some internal calm. Hm.

An interesting thought keeps coming to my mind as I blog. The people in my immediate environment seem to need some guidance with finding balance for themselves and finding harmony with each other. I find this to be especially true with hubby and dear daughter. They have a somewhat turbulent relationship, and bicker frequently. It is a loving relationship, to be sure, but a sort of a bumper car existence. (It's the best way I could come up with to describe their relationship.) I'm not saying that I can or want to tell anyone what they need to be happy, but I see that on the weekends, everyone (noisily!) makes it clear what he or she wants to do, but nobody gets anywhere until I step in and help everyone to come to an agreement about what we're doing that day. (And if I don't, both come to me and push me in the middle anyway) It's an interesting dynamic. So instead of waiting to be thrust in the middle of all that again and again, I plan to pacify everyone by gently assisting them to meet their own needs. Which ultimately reduces the noise around me! Serenity now! (wink)