by Few things bring on a feeling of helplessness more than being lost. While GPS has been a godsend for the directionally challenged among us (me included), it still happens when we lose the signal or are off the beaten path. Having been around long before Google Maps, I am all too familiar with this feeling. And I don’t like it.
Being lost physically is one thing — not a good thing for sure. However, being lost mentally is worse. Our personal Noise can so drown out who we really are that we do not even know where we end, and our Noise begins. The one thing we do know is that the path we are on does not bring happiness, peace, our best and a satisfying life. Sadly, we may begin to believe these concepts are for others, and not for us or we search for them in all the wrong places.
Identifying what is and isn’t our personal Noise is key. Examples of our personal Noise can include not taking responsibility for our actions, envy, fear, weakness, a lack of genuineness, lack of compassion, pessimism, stress, feeling sorry for ourselves, don’t feel good about who we are, distracted from the moment and so on. Our Noise takes a lot of effort. It is not natural. It is forced. It is us trying to be someone we are not. It tries to make life something it isn’t — controllable, knowable. It is swimming upstream when we do not have to. It is a waste of effort. It clutters our mind and affects our performance, as well as our happiness. It hammers our self-worth. It saps our strength. It leaves us wanting.
As we peel the Noise away, we become more and more aware of who we really are. This knowledge gives us strength to continue moving forward in our quest to learn to address our personal Noise, for what is revealed is so different and so much better. We are left with what is natural, with who we really are. Strong, full of trust and free of fear of ourselves and life, caring, self-confident, accepting of our mistakes so that we learn from each, embracing life’s ups and downs as natural, living moment to moment as we are designed and built to do, at peace, happier and so much more. We learn who we really are, what we really want, think, feel and need. And we are good with it. We are OK with our limitations, our shortcomings, and we own our mistakes. We relish the wins but, most importantly, we enjoy a foundational steady state of contentment, confidence, peace, happiness and optimism for what is next.
There is nothing easy about this process. It is incredibly humbling. It is deeply personal. Self-honesty and self-compassion are a must. It is a journey without end but one whose path brightens as we move forward. Life becomes better and better. BUT there are extraordinarily difficult times as old habits are broken and new ones begin. The struggle is the price we pay for a better life. And the struggle makes us stronger and wiser than we would otherwise be.
Choose a better way to live by learning to identify and then Stop the Noise.
More to come.
Eric Easter is CEO of Indianapolis-based Kittle’s.
