I was just glancing at the news and nothing is catching my attention. I know I am supposed to be swayed by the headlines to delve into the altogether typical journalistic fare that is offered but this morning none of it looks the least bit appetizing. So I am not going to write about any of it. No Clintons, no Obamas, no McCains, no Congress, no celebrities, no weather, no sports, no science, no tech, no anything.
I have been watching that stuff all week long and frankly it has just brought me down with woes and worries that are unnecessary. I really don’t need to know what these other people are doing all the time. Sure some of their actions make an impact on my life, especially when they are prone to passing stupidity on to the rest of us, but from a day to day stand point most of what they do is pointless and should remain in that category when compared to my own importance to me.
What I am saying is that from time to time I notice that I tune in to way too much of the noise (and it is really just noise) and it starts affecting how I am and how I am thinking. If I listen to too much talk radio on the way to and from work it tends to make me just a little bit on edge to a whole lot on edge and driving in public is enough to do that on its own so I am pretty sure I don’t need any additional catalyst working to compound the problem. If I start the day out with the local news cast I notice that my sarcasm meter is pretty close to pegged before I even leave the door.
When I find myself getting this way, the first thing I try to do is to tune it out. To do this I generally need to start tuning into something else. This is where music comes into to play, at least that is what works best for me. I also find that tuning into another station in search of music doesn’t always work because of the insistence on all that intermittent chatter that clutters things up and gets in the way of playing any real music. Current stations are lousy that way. It is a good thing a have a fairly large library to choose from.
My musical tastes are fairly large and I like a wide range of music. There are also some definite areas of so called music that I do not care to go and will actively avoid whenever possible. Music is almost magical in that it can lift us up, energize us, commiserate with us, console us, give us hope, and share our joys. It can bring back fond memories of happy times, sad times, and romantic times.
Because music has the power to magnify good thoughts and feelings it also has the power to magnify the bad. If used unwisely, it can take you farther down the path that you are trying to get away from. Be mindful of this, as you are being mindful of yourself.
If you notice that you are not in the place you want to be, then it is time to start changing the place that you are or start moving to a new place. Sometimes it is as simple as changing the noise around you. When the noise coming from the outside is impacting the noise you make on the inside, then it is time to start tuning out what you don’t need and start tuning in to what you do need. Follow the admonitions of Paul. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after those things.
And that is why today I am tuning out all of those things that seem to get in the way of being able to tune in to those things that matter most. I am pretty sure I will be better off for it.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
No comments:
Post a Comment