26. Quiet the Noise

Our minds are constantly running with so much sound, so much noise…

They never seem to turn off. Their walls are always reverberating with the leftover hustle of the world around them, so it can be hard to find stillness.

I’m listening to an audiotape by Pema Chodron. In it, she talks about how the ringing of a gong helped open up her mind while she was on a meditation retreat. And when I was listening and she told us to listen to the gong I stopped. Even though I was walking I felt so moved…

Because while I was listening to the gong I felt like I really heard it, even though my mind was racing while I was listening to the sound. But this ability to listen and not listen, to choose what we pay attention or give power to, that’s the core essence of stillness itself.

For we can either be surrounded by noise or a bevy of sounds mixing into life itself. The presence of the sound never changes.