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Returning to Peace Via the Art of Listening (includes meditation)
There is so much going on in the world today. It can be overwhelming and unrelenting at times. When I find myself in the spaces between love and compassion, lagging well behind trust and grace, and far away from my own safe harbor of knowing I am enough, okay, loved, and loving – I fight to return to that place of peace and acceptance.
But I never seem to find it where I am so fervently looking and where I know it must be. In trying to escape those in-between spaces – that place that feels like purgatory – I end up creating more pain. In frustrating times, we want something that will soothe the ache within, take away the pain that won’t relent, or distract us from the grip it has over our swirling mind and floundering heart.
I have found that dropping the fight and letting go of the fear that keeps me striving in desperation to find relief is the only way home. It is about allowing the subtle, quiet voice of Love to find me instead.
So often, the bridge back to peace comes in the simple, sudden instant of hearing something that cuts through my chaotic thoughts and opens up a moment of spacious silence, or offers a song that meets my heart and quiets my mind. Sometimes, just stopping to listen can be the light that guides us back to kindness, love, and our own compassionate being – hardened by life, a long winter, or just the trappings of the day. Sometimes, just taking the time to simply listen, whether it’s another voice, the harmonious sounds of music, or the simple sounds of nature, can offer relief in the darkness. It opens the way to shift negative, unhelpful thoughts originating from deep within us. The old tapes that arise when we have lost ourselves in the weightiness and toil of life and speak of dark places. They move us to outward actions of doing more to get away from This and Now, often leading to raging and blaming ourselves for all that does not feel right.
But I have learned to close my eyes and just listen. I let my heart guide me to what I can handle in that moment, to what or who resonates with me. I turn to favorite mentors, poets, authors, and speakers like Tara Brach, Rupert Spira, Byron Katie, David Whyte, Adyashanti, Mary Oliver, and others. Their words of understanding, love, and peace remind me that I am not lost – I am simply forgetting who I truly am and that I am safe in the present moment. These voices filled with respect, wisdom, and compassion speak to our hearts and our innate knowing of connection and belonging. They offer the soul revival that we need during tough times.
Music can also be the road back to reality. When nothing else soothes what ails me, I find any harmonious music that meets me where I am, listening with everything I am – letting it resonate in my heart, my body, and being. I let it lull and serenade me to let go and unfurl, after being so tightly held in bud. Anais Nin’s words echo in my mind:
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
I listen to music that takes hold of my being and softens the spikes and sharp edges of my limiting thoughts and closed heart. It lifts my being to a higher space and vibration of more hope, light, and expansion than I had a moment before. Classical music by Beethoven, Mozart, and Vivaldi, ambient music with sound frequencies like 528hz and 432hz, Reiki healing music, or American Indian drums and flute music, become my soundtrack. I leave them playing in the background to guide my movements and inward and outward-facing actions throughout the day. I have playlists for every occasion now – wild and well-known rock and pop to set a pace or forward momentum and softer sounds that meet, move, and open my heart, making me feel like I’m breathing sunshine, filled with light and love again.
Find calm in one of the HeartBalm Music & Nature Sounds Video’s on YouTube:
My niece enjoys ASMR – for those unfamiliar, it is the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, and it brings peace through certain sounds like soft whispering, typing on a keyboard, or crinkling paper. She finds comfort in these at night, using them to quiet her mind before bed. I can appreciate this draw to soft, consistent noise. In meditation, I often listen to what fills the moment – the distant hum of traffic, the ticking of the refrigerator, a bird singing outside, or my cat purring in my lap. All are reminders of how listening can be a portal to peace and connection.
Recently, I braved the snow and cold still lingering in the Rocky Mountains to check on my trail. After a muddy 4-wheel drive up to the trailhead, I strapped on my spikey yaxtrax and trekked over the still snowy, ice-covered trail. I paused as I got to the soft ground at the foot of a beautiful tree and rested. It surprised me how quickly I was embraced by the sounds of silence, and the soft wind humming through the trees and grasses. The sound and sensation were transformative. I had forgotten how much I missed nature’s song of silence and life. I closed my eyes and just listened – merging with all of it. In that moment, there was nowhere that I was lost, or any areas of darkness. I was where I belonged, and listening was my bridge to peace and belonging in that forever moment. The sensation of just being with everything on the mountain that day – with nature as it is always, in a state of just being was immense.
For months I had felt lost in the world of snug, indoor spaces, extra blankets, soft cozy socks, and winter coats, scarves, boots, and gloves to get to the next heated place.
I thought I was just simply being in my own world until I stepped into nature’s reality.
It was the soothing and loving balm that I needed.
Its reminder of what this journey is truly about was revelatory and so I gave way to just sit, open my heart and soul, listen, and meditate with nature’s song,
with silence,
with the chorus of wind caressing still bare and brittle branches,
and the gentle stirring and rhythmic dance of dried grasses tangling and chiming together in the flow of nature’s breath.
A bird hopped nearby tilting its head to the ground, singing out as it saw me – its unwanted audience.
It chittered and flew a bit farther away and continued – searching for lunch by simply listening to the earth.
A raven flew overhead and chortled as it went by.
I did not look but knew by the distinctive guttural sound that she was there.
This is heaven, I thought to myself. I had somehow forgotten the magic of being in nature. Having not been back there for months but what felt like years.
My heart expanding with my ears as my guide – listening, reminded, admiring, grateful, and totally captured in nature’s truth, song, ease, and humble way of being.
How could I have forgotten this? It gave me my soul back with an upgraded reboot for life. A remembrance of how closely we are all connected to the essence of everything. It was an otherworldly force that is thankfully, of this world and available to experience at any time.
It is a deep reminder of the truth of sound – of the harmony and present moment reality of life and the truth of all things held in the song of a single moment.
I had been blessed with this heart knowledge again. It infused my every breath, and thought, warmed, and opened my heart, and fed my hungry, overwintered soul.
The art of listening is an adventure for each of us to take. What moves us? What brings us out of a dark place? Who or what resonates with our beating heart, deepens our breathing, and reminds us of our loving, much-needed presence in the here and now?
When you close your eyes at home what do you hear? What sounds fill this moment where you stand and wash dishes, push the cart through the grocery store, walk to your favorite coffee shop, or sit at your desk?
Can you let these songs and sounds of life bring you more fully into the moment, and free you from worry, anxiety, or frustration?
Can you open to what is meeting your ears and your listening heart and be with the cacophony of sounds no matter what they are and just allow them in?
Can you be a stereo speaker and just notice sounds as they come into your awareness and then allow them to continue through, and then again, and again – everything coming and going – never holding or contracting around a sound but just allowing it all to be noticed and move through?
Join me now for a moment of meditation and of listening to the song of now, the sound of my voice, and the soft music behind.
It was so beautiful to be with you today. Thank you for joining me sweet one. Go listen with “ears wide open” and feel adored. I love you.
To read or explore more please reference this publications resource list:
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Returning to Peace Via the Art of Listening