Listening To Sounds

Listening to sounds.

Close your eyes and listen.

You don't need to make any particular effort,

Just listen to whatever sounds are occurring.

You may hear people,

People walking past,

Cars accelerating,

Sounds from a neighbor,

Or the hum of an electrical appliance.

Allow the sounds to come to you and not straining to hear or trying to shut out any of the noises that you don't want.

Just let all the sounds be present as they are.

Some perhaps coming and going,

Others constant.

Maybe you notice that you get caught a little with some sounds.

Who is that talking?

What's that noise?

Just notice that and as best you can let them go.

If you hear something you don't like,

You can feel your resistance to it,

You not wanting it to be there.

Perhaps you can hear a pleasant sound,

Like a bird singing,

Or a song on a radio.

Can you feel your attraction to it?

A desire to focus just on this sound?

Can you let go of wanting and not wanting and just be an observer?

Simply allowing whatever sounds arise to be there.

And do this for a few minutes on your own.

Now when you're ready,

Open your eyes and gently move and see if you can retain some of that awareness as you go through your day.