Whether it be war, a protest, an argument, an amusement park, a meeting, or even internal dialogue, chaos is quickly identified as multiple things working together to create imbalance. It’s often loud. It often involves quick moving parts. It’s often filled with smells that can be potentially caustic. Based on the environment, our sense of touch can be altered. It often happens so quickly, we have difficulty analyzing it.
Why is this important to note? There are a few reasons. First of all, we each experience life through the perceptions of our senses. And, we all perceive these life experiences differently. As we perceive these receptions, we formulate ideas around what something is, how it affects us, how we are supposed to respond to it, or ultimately, ‘what does this mean for me’?
To demonstrate this, let’s say you and another person were to be given a pen and paper after walking down a street together just looking around and observing your surroundings. On this paper you both were told to write down your observations. The interesting finding would be that you both had different interpretations of the walk. Sure, there would be similar items seen, such as the red car, the leaves blowing in the wind. However, one might say “it was cold” and the other “the temperature was perfect”. “The cute black dog”, while the other pointed out “the scary dog”. Why? Because we experience life through our senses and we interpret those senses based on past experiences.
The second reason this concept is important is because when all of our senses are activated at once, and there seems to be limited control on our end, we switch into survival mode. Fight, Flight or Freeze quickly become our only options. Why? Because our senses are telling our internal selves that we are in danger, so let’s reallocate our energy to ensure our safety.
This is where we tend to find ourselves most often. Even when we are “out of danger”, meaning we are no longer around the person who yelled at us, no longer in the uncomfortable meeting, no longer in the argument with a loved one, no longer in a situation that evokes all of our senses, the Quiet Chaos continues. Even at our desk surrounded by external silence.
Our thoughts perpetuate this Quiet Chaos into a feeding frenzy of the negative chemicals (emotions) that are devoured throughout our body. This continued Quiet Chaos wreaks havoc on our body systems, on our mental clarity, on our emotional state, and on our overall well being.
This Quiet Chaos becomes our perceived norm, our unconscious anthem, quietly spiraling us down. Why? Because we are continuously signaling to our system that we need help escaping danger. But, the only danger that is actually present is the Quiet Chaos, because from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we are safe and our basic needs are met. The rest is self-inflicted. The Quiet Chaos.
So, how do we silence the Quiet Chaos and move from surviving to thriving? The simple, yet difficult, process begins with breath. When we close our eyes and focus our attention onto our breath, and I mean full attention on breath and breath alone, there are two amazing phenomenons that occur. We are automatically taken out of survival mode because our body realizes that if we have the ability to put energy into quiet breathing, there is no need to Fight, Flight or Freeze. We also begin to perceive our breath through our senses– we FEEL the breath enter and exit (from our nose to our lungs), we HEAR the air flow, we SMELL whatever is in the area (this is partly why turning a diffuser on beforehand is a good idea), we TASTE the sweetness of our breath, and the best part, we SEE whatever it is we imagine. We no longer perceive the external forces, but rather offer ourselves the opportunity to see what’s real. And what is real? Our perception. Our truth. Balance.
This is our reality and this cannot be found when it’s overrun by the Quiet Chaos. Our perceived reality is where we formulate our future perceptions in this world. Unless we are spending time to perceive this world in the beauty we know it to be, we are perceiving it through the environment and worldly view, which collectively becomes our Quiet Chaos.
Be well, Be love,
Eric
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