Background Noise

I was becoming annoyed as I strolled from aisle to aisle on my biweekly Costco run.  Despite a smaller-than-usual crowd shopping that day, it was so noisy that I felt myself getting more and more tense.  Finally, I turned down another aisle, stopped my cart to grab a few things off the shelf and was suddenly stunned to find that the store had gone completely silent.  It was then that I realized I was the problem.  All of the annoying noise had been coming from me and my squeaky cart!

I've found that background noise can sometimes be a problem in my mind too.  Occasionally, I find myself singing a song with a catchy tune that I heard several days ago.  Which isn't a problem if the lyrics are also good.  Unfortunately, that isn't always the case, and do I really want to be singing negative messages to myself over and over again?  (i.e. "I would catch a grenade for ya...")

Other times, I realize I have a tape of self-talk running in the background, which is seldom positive and encouraging.  For example, statements like, "Ah, go ahead and eat that eggnog pie, it's the holidays!" can unconsciously sabotage things I'm trying to accomplish.

I've discovered that tapping twice on my smart phone's ON button brings up all of the apps running behind the scenes.  I'm frequently surprised by how much is going on without me knowing it!  Having an awareness of what's running through my subconscious is the start of helping me to make positive changes.

Also, controlling what I'm putting into my head, such as books, movies, music, etc., makes a huge impact on what I think about during the day.  Being purposeful in selecting good things and weeding out the not-so-good things is powerful.

Finally, focus is important.  Just as a driver steers his car toward what he is looking at (and hopefully it's the road ahead!), so will I tend to move toward that which I focus on.  By keeping my eyes on the One who created me, everything else falls to the periphery and can be handled with a purposeful awareness and a Heavenly perspective.