Listen

At any time we can turn our attention to what we are hearing.  Listening, we direct our mind’s awareness, our thoughts toward what we can hear. Staying with the process of listening, moment to moment, now that’s really something.  From this can flow relaxation, a sense of connection, insight and may reboot dormant compassion.

Acknowledging thoughts as they arise and letting them pass, returning our attention to the sound, we begin to notice resonance.  Just as every sound has its own timbre, its own overtone signature, every sound has unique qualities.  Even in noise, we can hear beauty.  With discipline and repetition, sonority can be found in any auditory stream.

This simple practice I suspect has benefits to ourselves and, in redirecting our awareness and influencing our appraisal of what we hear, to our environment.  I know it calms me down, positively redirects my thinking and usually inspires me to play music.

If you are having difficulty staying with your listening in your immediate environment, try listening to music with this same attentiveness to quality.  Music can assist you until you develop the ability to find music in everything you hear.

Try out the “Sonic Internet” page (above) and if you still haven’t gotten enough, you can practice finding music in the Metaphone Sounding (15 member low voltage noise orchestra, recorded for Sonarchy, 2004)

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