Hear Here!!

“Withdraw into yourself. The rational mind is able to rest in itself.” — Marcus Aurelius

The Obstacle

We forget our senses.
Until we need them.

We only sense whatever is in front of us.
What we directly see.
Directly hear.
Feel.
Taste.

We seldom engage in voluntary sense recruitment.
We could be gathering more.
Connecting more.

Our ancestors would have done this regularly.
Hunting and survival demanded it.

But for many, this is an all but lost art.
One that is very useful.
Not to be forgotten.

The Gift and Opportunity

We we have our senses.
We use them all the time.
We know when we need them.
It is automatic.

We can also use them voluntarily.
We can recruit them at will.

In this instance, we can recruit hearing.
As a means of resetting.
A way to get out of our head and into our body.

To create space and distance.
To slow time.
To gain clarity, before acting or speaking.

We can pause.
Close our eyes (you don’t have to, but it amplifies the effect)
Simply listen to our environment.
Into the sounds.

Let everything else go.
Hyper-focus on sounds.
Near.
Far.

We can use this anytime, anywhere.
In conversation.
In meetings.
On an airplane.
While driving.
While alone.
In groups.

It’s a tool.
One that gets out of our head and into our body.
One that helps us when buy time when clarity is needed.

The Practice of Self-Mastery

• Pause before action, conflict, or decision.

• Shift attention from thought to sound.

• Let hearing pull you out of your head and back into your body.

• Stay with the sounds of your environment until space and clarity return.

  CHEAT CODE: STOP → LISTEN → HYPER FOCUS ON HEARING → WAIT→ ACT