Have you noticed that there’s a voice inside your head? Since you are reading this, I’m sure that you are well aware that there’s a monologue going on in there. To complicate matters, it continues all day, every day. And it is not a cheerleader.
Michael Singer in his NY Times bestseller, The Untethered Soul says it well: the only way for us to find peace and contentment is to realize that this voice will never be content. It always has a problem with something.
If you’d like to meet the Voice, sit quitely with the intention to enjoy silence and peace for 15 minutes. Pamper yourself with this brief time-out. How did it go? Rather than peace and solitude, you probably heard something like:
“What is this? This is a waste of time. I have so much to do.
I’ve got to get that report finished. What was that. I’m out of here.”
This is our predicament. We all have a Voice inside our head and it’s a trouble maker. It’s as if our life is not our own. We may have a clear intention, but the Voice isn’t on board and it freely shares its concerns. So what to do?
The Witness
We need to free ourselves from this neurotic Voice, but how? Start by recognizing that the Voice is talking to someone; in other words, someone is listening to the Voice. The listener is you, your higher Self.
You are a Witness or silent observer of the melodrama presented by the Voice in your head. To find peace, we need to step back and be the Witness, your higher Self. Let’s clarify this issue with a personal story.
Some years ago, I participated in a delightful retreat in Hawaii. One afternoon our group swam in a beautiful pool at the base of a tropical waterfall. It was a magical time and place. Standing under the waterfall was breathtaking, revitalizing, and yet not sustainable for more than a few minutes. What was even more charming, however, was stepping behind the cascading water. There was a serenity and beauty behind the waterfall that was not present standing directly under the cascading water.
In a similar manner, stepping back from the Voice in our head brings us clarity and comfort. The incessant, sometimes overwhelming chatter of the Voice in our head is crazy-making.
Cultivating the awareness that you were swept into the conversation of the Voice is the key. The inner Voice loves melodrama. So step back into the silence of the Witness. With that objective awareness, we can choose to relax and release the grip of the inner Voice.
Cultivating Peace and Freedom
Looking back, I was fortunate to begin to develop this ability many years ago. At that time, I met a meditation teacher at an introduction class that he held. What he had to say about the benefits of meditation sounded like a perfect fit for my needs, so I enrolled in his course.
Once I committed to sitting for two short periods of meditation daily, I began to quickly see positive changes. I was more at ease throughout the day and happier. In meditation, I was effortlessly releasing the grip of the chattering Voice in my head and my stress levels plummeted.
For the first time in my life, I had a technique that brought peace into my life. I knew how to find the place inside where there was no drama . As I continued to meditate every day, delightful things happened.
The intervals of inner peace that I found in meditation started showing up in my day. Along with them, were feelings of delight. All was well in the world at these times. As I continued to meditate over the coming months these delicious periods of contentment and freedom grew in duration and frequency. I was excited by the changes. Not only was my life far more manageable, I was happier and experiencing a level of peace that I’d never known.
Inspiring changes in the quality of my life occurred within the first week of learning to meditate, and they have continued over the last 40+ years. All this motivated me to become a teacher of meditation. I developed a strong desire to help people thrive. We can all reclaim our lives from the trouble-making Voice inside our head.
Making a commitment to the practice of Effortless Meditation™ is a great place to start. If you have any questions, I’d love to hear from you.
