The Too-Muchness of Everything!

Photo: Blurred, abstract view from train window. Fort William to Glasgow, Scotland (2021). Copyright SJPhotography

The Too Muchness of Everything! (includes meditative pause)

Overwhelmed. Too much. Loud. Annoying. Cluttered. Noisy. At times, it’s not just “everything” but the feeling that everything is simply “too much.”

Even listening to external sounds feels irritating. Watching TV or a favorite movie offers no respite. Reading books or catching up on emails, blogs or newsletters feels impossible to add to my already overstuffed brain.

Often, I lean into soft ambient music or healing music linked to certain frequencies to calm and soften – and even these are too much. In times like these – of too muchness – I notice that when I stop doing, or turn off the TV, or external music, what is left is the deafening quiet of life.

A void so loud that I am astonished by it but at the same time relieved. I feel a deep sigh and a tangible letting go within my body and being.

There may still be noises of life happening – a bird singing, cars driving by, a ringing in my ears from an old neck injury, or even the whirring and buzzing of the computer, refrigerator, or ticking of a heater but even in these neutral sounds, the silence allows a space to drop everything, and just be.

My mind stops taking in information and stops doing whatever it is I am trying to achieve. My eyes and ears soften and let go of trying to see and hear what someone is saying or trying to convey. Everything drops into a place of presence, and silence.

We are in an era of changes, shifts, and an equalizing of what is out of balance. And we are doing this as one - as a collective body. When one person or a group is out of balance it does not mean that they alone are solely impacted by this imbalance – it touches us all. As a collective, there is a place within us that is also affected.

Even if our lives are generally comfortable, and easy these societal shifts can make us feel tense, irritable, off-kilter, and unsure of why we are upset. We may feel exasperated, depressed, and exhausted, and like we are walking around with a pebble in our shoe that we can’t get rid of.

Our shared oneness does not allow for a rest from turmoil on the other side of the world, or in a neighboring town – we are all impacted by life’s upheavals.

Sometimes unplugging from everything is the best way to navigate and weather the changing tides of life. Coming home to the place within – letting go of our whirring minds and moving down to the safe harbor of our hearts. This place where love abides. This space where respite and presence allow us to calm and take a breath and a break from the “too muchness of everything.”