I was on a mercy mission. A concerned friend had brought me a young robin, healthy but just out of the nest and in need of parental care. He’d assumed that it was an orphan because it looked vulnerable and there was no parent visible. I asked him where he’d found the robin and headed back to the site, robin in hat, hoping it would remain continent en route. As I neared the spot I became aware of a rising agitation within the hat - a quivering and a barely audible cheeping - I also, eventually, became aware of what had prompted the excitement. Right at the top of my range of hearing there was a conversation going on. Somewhere in the bushes not far away a parent bird was calling and had probably been calling ever since the fledgling had been abducted many minutes earlier. Neither bird could see the other but when the young bird heard its parent calling it responded. Being somewhat dull to these frequencies it was some time before I realised what was going on. I released the young bird in a safeish spot and retreated. From a distance I watched as the parent emerged from hiding and began shovelling tasty looking insects down the fledgling’s neck. A happy ending.
I’ve noticed a similar dullness in my ability to discern the health and disposition of my soul. For long periods I will be keenly aware of work, other people, world crises, composting techniques… but my soul? Because it is quiet, because it talks a different language and because I am naturally tuned in, via my five senses, to other things I don’t hear it. In fact I’ll never hear it because when it comes to the soul, sound and hearing are just metaphors – it doesn’t communicate through our sensory apparatus because it’s within. So how do we tune in to our souls? How do we get the hang of discerning the excitement within?
Stop adding to external stimuli
Quiet is rare and unpleasant dins are common. We do all sorts of things to drown out unwelcome stimulation of our senses. We play music in the car because otherwise we’d hear the racket from outside / the passenger seat. We cover the things we don’t want to see with things we’d rather look at, e.g. a new shirt, a really big tv screen, pictures of naked women. We overpower unpleasant smells with slightly more pleasant ones – air fresheners, breath fresheners, armpit sanitizers and dog deodorizers. We drown out unpleasant stimuli with pleasant ones at higher intensity. The unwelcome ones are still there but this way we don’t notice them so much. But… we’re even less likely to notice the whispers from within us - the messages our lives depend on. What might be a better approach? How to free ourselves from unpleasant stimuli? What might be a better strategy than overlaying unwelcome stimuli and deafening ourselves to that soul music?
Reduce external stimuli
- Renounce: Let go of / get rid of stuff. Give yourself time off from the stuff that normally occupies your thoughts. See article: holidays for more details
- Simplify: The days when I am most able to sense the excitement within are the days when the most taxing decisions I have to make concern matters such as food, sleep and going to the toilet. A helpful practice I’ve been introduced to is the annual elimination of 10% of my commitments. This habit ensures I am continually reducing the things that distract me from my chosen priorities.
- Slow down: When I run through the woods near our house I notice big noisy things like trees, trains and branches that flip up and thwack me on the scrotum. When I walk through I notice birds singing, squirrels crashing about and mucus dripping from my nostrils. When I lean against a tree and pause I hear wasps chewing, voles scurrying and my heart beating. If I slow right down I start to notice soul music rising from within.
Resolve conundrums
My tendency to poorly discern what I am and am not responsible for leads to malcommitment – I task my brain to solve everything: Colleagues’ disputes, Premier League corruption, my neighbour’s fear of Belgium, Uncle Dan’s haemorrhoids and 3rd World debt. And then wonder why I have a brain full of short-circuits – unresolved problems. I think we should…
- Be more discerning (see article: burdens) - give our minds time to resolve the noise of all these short circuits. This enables us to slow down and quieten down and frees our precious processing capability to tune in to the excitement within - the soul music. I’ve found that one of the best ways to do this is to become absorbed in a simple challenge: ascending a peak, canoeing a river, chopping wood, looking for my finger in the pile of chopped wood... Simple as opposed to complex rather than simple as in easy. Doing this seems to give our unconscious mind the time and bandwidth it needs to work. I’ll often finish a day of this sort of activity and realise that I have solutions to many of the problems I started the day with – even though I hadn’t given them any conscious thought. How much of this sort of time do you give yourself?
Encouragement
There are times when I can’t but be aware of the excitement of my soul within.
- Awe and wonder: In the presence of majesty - a beautiful sunset, a frost decorated leaf or a mighty glacier – our soul chimes. What are you doing to expose yourself to majesty?
- Resonance: When my soul is set a ringing by the presence of another soul with similar values and direction. Biographies, true stories, friends, mentors – who does it for you? We need to spend time with these folk. How much of this sort of encouragement do you have booked into your diary?
What are we doing to become more aware of what we want and need? Not just our material wants and needs but the wants and needs that we’ll only know if we discern the excitement within – if we learn to listen to that soul music.
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