snowhead

I got up this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow
that had fallen over night. It was so quiet outside,
for those of you who live in areas of the world (we
have subscribers to this newsletter in many
different countries) that don't get any snow, it gets
very quiet outside for the first day or so after a few
inches of the white stuff covers the ground.

The reason for this is that the snow initially acts
like the sound absorbing foam pads found in
recording studios and radio station broadcasting
booths. The irregular shaped snowflakes stack on
one another trapping air between them and the
surface ends up with an irregular or rough texture
as well. The normal sounds you would here when
you are outside, like cars or traffic in the distance,
are muffled by the snow as the sound waves
project out from the source of the noise. In short,
the snow "absorbs" the sound waves, thus creating
this peaceful and serene "quiet" after a substantial
snow.

A few days after however, not only has the peace
and quiet vanished, but the sounds are now louder
than they were before the snow. The continued
sound waves slamming into the soft fluffy layer of
snow, combined with the force of gravity have
caused the snow to become more dense; the
surface has smoothed out and hardened and is
now reflecting the sound waves rather than
absorbing them.

Why all this talk of snow and sound? The inner
“chatter” of our mind has many similarities to the
way sound relates to snowfall. You see, when our
mind and thoughts are “soft” and “fluffy” our inner
world tends to become nice and quiet as well. This
sense of calm is the natural outcome of a mind that
is able to “muffle” the negative inner dialogue that
can sometimes distract us.

Conversely, when our mind and thoughts are
“hard”, the chatter can feel a bit overwhelming at
times. Rather than being muffled and quieted,
those negative thoughts seemingly bounce off the
“rigidness” of our mind like a pinball machine on
caffeine.

So let me ask you, at this very moment, what’s the
state of affairs with your mind? Is it “soft” or
“hard”? Even if you answered “soft”, I invite you to
discover a 30 second method for easily softening it
a great deal more.

In a moment, after you have read all of the steps
and completed this article, just come back to the
list of steps and actually engage in the exercise.

The first step is to get out of your mind and into
your chest or area of your heart. Close your eyes
and take your attention to your chest, focusing
your awareness on your heart and the area that
surrounds it. Once there, keep your attention on
this area for about 10 seconds before proceeding
to the next step.

Next, while comfortably holding your attention on
this area around your heart, think of someone that
you appreciate a great deal; just think about how
much gratitude you have for this person as you
hold your awareness on your chest and heart.
After just a second or two, you will feel a “shift” in
your mind and body. While the words that describe
this shift may vary, it is something that will occur in
everyone. Enjoy this feeling for as long as you
would like, however, 20 seconds can do wonders.

The next time you feel like you need a time out,
take one. Simply close your eyes (or don’t….you
can do this with your eyes open as well) and go
through the steps. I don’t want you to enjoy doing
this several times a day too soon. You wouldn’t
want to begin feeling more peace too quickly,
would you?

© Copyright 2007 Vincent Harris-All Rights
Reserved.