Pause and Listen to the Sounds Around You

As I enter this day gradually, I am listening to the sounds around me. At 5:15am, the cardinals nesting in the hedges wake me with their whistling calls as they care for the new lives they have brought into the world, soon to dart through my vision to astonish and delight me with brilliant streaks of red.

But now, as my eyes are closed, the sounds build – an engine, a distant voice. A compressor begins to hum interrupted by four jabbing calls of a crow. And now a ghostly warning radiates from a moving commuter train across the river followed by three punctuations of a cat inquiring emphatically. The variety of chirps and hums builds, forming a sound fabric in which melodies and rhythms arise and recede with moments of near silence, save the now constant hum.

I recognize this place through my ears: my room, my street, my neighborhood, my town even though the sequence, duration, and particular sounds will combine differently tomorrow morning and as the day unfolds. We rely on our eyes to identify where we are, unless for some reason sight is not available to us. How consciously do we take in the soundscape?

Take a moment to close your eyes and listen to the sounds of where you are.
What do you hear first?
And then?
And beyond that?
And close by?
What sounds persist?
Which come and go?
What do you hear in the silence?
Breathe into the fabric of your at-this-moment soundscape. Let your attention expand
and make room for the ever-unfolding.

Be sound and vibrant,
Naaz

© 2013 Naaz Hosseini. All Rights Reserved. Copying or resposting this content without written permission is strictly prohibited.

About the Author: Naaz Hosseini

Naaz Hosseini is a singer, dancer, psychotherapist, and voice empowerment coach. She developed Powerful Presence™ coaching to help corporate and entrepreneurial women step into their vocal power to command the attention and respect they deserve. As a NYS Licensed Psychoanalyst and Qualified Gestalt Therapist, she supervises and trains mental health counselors at Teachers College Columbia University and therapists at the Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training. She served as visiting faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Project Zero Summer Institute for ten years where Howard Gardner has said, "With enthusiasm, I recommend Naaz Hosseini, a pioneer in using the voice and the body for understanding."