Master Yourself: Sound

Music is life, sound is in our souls; without it, time seems to slow down. In complete silence, it is as if we cannot hear the beat of life, and the beat of life is wherein time lay. Sound transports our souls to places without words, and calls to our cellular structure, and begs us to respond. For us to recoil when it’s loud, or relax to when it is calm; sound calls us to experience it, in all of it’s variants and dimensions. It beckons emotions, drowns thoughts, brings joy to hearts, and echoes within it, the feelings of life.

There is nothing that does not emit sound, all things speak a language of their own. The sounds in our life create a deep underlying pattern, that will echo into the very fabric of our existences.

What are the sounds in your life? What do you hear? Do you hear uplifting words? Encouraging things spoken to you? Do you hear calming noises, and things that make you feel content? Or are you often bombarded by TV’s, blaring stereos, yelling, arguing, traffic, and, other such sounds? All of the sounds we experience, help to create how we feel about ourselves and our world.

When my children were young, we traveled on the road, usually via a camper or RV. We would often park in grocery store parking lots, or along the street somewhere, when we were passing through a town. We would of course hear a steady stream of traffic all night. As an adult, my daughter confided in me, that hearing traffic at night, helps her sleep. It reminds her of the security it brought her as a child, as she had grown to appreciate the sound.

Even such negatives can be turned around, and viewed with fondness. People even grow fond of arguing, something I will never understand, but it is true. I think somehow it gives them purpose. It could also be, it is the only outlet for their animal side.

Sound is essential in sex, without it, it seems rather dull. It doesn’t have to be words spoken to make much of an impact, just usually some base grunts or screams. Sound is an incredible thing, oh the things it can do to us!

I think a lot of us have learned to tune a large percentage of it out, we just do not want to hear what is going on around us, or there is just too much to focus on. With practice, one can learn to filter only certain sounds out; many men do it with their wives, and children to their parents. This is all subconscious, though we can learn it consciously.

Relax somewhere you feel comfortable, and close your eyes. Now, do nothing but focus on your hearing. Do not think about anything, just listen to the sounds around you. After a few minutes of this, identify each one. Now, focus on only one sound. You may continue to hear the others, but they will fade, and the one you are focusing on will come into the forefront.

Pick another sound, and do the same thing. Practice two sounds at once, and rotate between the sounds of your focus. This is really a great thing to know, when you are trying to zero in one conversation, and many people are talking.

Listen to a radio or music, and turn the level down to just below comfortable. Practice this, and over time, you will be able to turn the volume lower and lower.

There are muscles in your ears that can partially close your ears off. Practice flexing these inner ear muscles. Once you get this down, you can close your ears off, as a protection when exposed to loud noise.

Learn to listen to sounds your ears enjoy. When out and about, listen to everything going on around you, and learn to understand your environment from what you hear. For example, go out and stand on a busy sidewalk, and close your eyes. Listen to the traffic and the people walking/talking about you. Identify in your mind where each sound is coming from, and paint a picture of what is happening in your mind’s eye. Then, open your eyes, and look around, take note of where the various sounds were coming from visually.

Take note of the synchronous effect of sound. Have you ever noticed the music in your vehicle seeming to be in beat with the guy walking down the street? If you have noticed this, then start paying attention to how random sounds have the same effect.

Everything is flowing in a rhythm and pattern, and you can literally hear it around you. After you have learned to master the above sound experiments, there are more advanced practices. I’ll let you discover these for yourself. In the meantime, I hope your listening!

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[tags]hearing, sound, martial arts, qi gong, synchronicity, music, life, radio, hearing improvement, visualization, rhythm, self improvement, lockergnome, shadowmyth[/tags]