Sound Is Energy // Pt. 2
“Listening is suspended disbelief.
We are openly receiving. Paying attention with no preconceived ideas. The only goal is to fully and clearly understand what is being transmitted, remaining totally present with what's being expressed—and allowing it to be what it is.”
-Rick Rubin
Sometimes I feel like my energy capacity is too small. I long to keep up with the pace surrounding me, and often lean toward hyper-productivity; yet I value and consistently practice presence. I need reminding that we each have our own equilibrium, and that pushing our capacity to mirror the pulse surrounding is rarely in our favor.
Last year I attended a conference that was magnificent in its creativity. The schedule was packed with world-renowned creatives sharing stories, tools, failures, successes, and poetry, as well as workshops conducive to in-depth conversations and exploring. It was impressive, valuable, and—it was a lot. Too much activity for me. I acknowledge that my need for space may be more than most people's, but with all the inspiration and education compressed into only a few days, I found my practice of creating space to listen and be still that much more necessary.
The pace of this conference was in many ways a reflection of how most of us live day to day. It’s simply what we expect due to our hyper-addiction to productivity and entertainment. There is always so much available, at such a rapid speed. Reflecting on my conference experience, I realized that stillness is what settles what we take in; it’s an exhale for our processing system.
In the cultural climate we live in, silence and listening are rather provocative acts. As we are constantly urged to provide more value and more excess, we often mistake space for lack, and making room for listening is often uncomfortable as it pushes up against our collective tendency of mindless consumption. But leaning into the discomfort of stillness and listening is essential if we hope to nurture and replenish our energy.
Our waning life force moves in a circle, in that each process of life affects all others, and each process has a role to play in keeping the other parts well-functioning. While there are boundless ways energy is drained, yet in our circles of living—gathering, working, learning, grieving, and celebrating—there is very little intentional space reserved for listening. I often think of the energetic toll this takes on us and the peace it strips from us collectively. We need time every day to pause and open to what’s before us—it is crucial to our evolution and restorative to our energy. It serves neither our own energy nor the world around us to ignore something as essential as creating space for listening.
In his book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin writes, “Listening opens possibilities. It allows you to see a bigger world. Many of our beliefs were learned before we had a choice in what we were taught. Some of them might go back generations and may no longer apply. Some may never have applied. Listening, then, is not just awareness. It’s freedom from accepted limitations.”
In a world of constant movement and broken systems that require reimagining, listening is a lifeline. And in a culture where we are increasingly taught how to speak and find ways to be heard—where Black and Indigenous voices, as well as Mother Earth, are silenced—listening is not simply a nice idea. Rather, it is an antidote. Silenced voices have essential stories to tell—stories of our wholeness, stories of transformational truth—stories that tune the ear beyond existing structures, systems, and conditioning. Authentic listening is what makes good stories resonate. Listening opens the heart, widens the room, and allows vitality within the circle of energy.
Perhaps, then, the emergence of evolution calls for quiet.
Isn't being offered space one of the softest forms of love, one of the most glowing lights?
Pulse + Pause
Think of a time when you felt worn. When was the last time you were able to find a spark or a salve? What restored you? How would you name or describe the source of your energy, your vitality? Write down on paper what comes to mind, then use it as a reminder to replenish your energy.
Listen in a moment of space; have no agenda and allow the simplicity of your generous curiosity to warm whatever is cold. Allow the open space to offer you its depth and subtlety.
A blessing:
listening can be rest,
the water to your soil—
the soft open space to move
the supple posture to receive
the unknowing that enlightens
your next loving move
