The music that comes out of your music player depends on what you play. If you play classical music, you will hear that and if you play a movie song, you will hear that. Your brain is just like that device. The tragedy of life is that the music playing in your brain is not yours; it’s been played by others. Decide to play your own music and not others’. Resolve to delete all those old recordings of failures, humiliations, discomfort, and defeat that say, ‘you must suffer.’

No matter how unfavourable the circumstances are, stay determined to continue living happily. Your old recording says, ‘feel stressed or distressed if someone is angry or against you.’ Change it to, ‘this is not the end of the world, and even if it were, who says there is anything to worry about?’ Do not get carried away by the old recording. Play the new music of peace, equanimity, and true spiritual knowledge.

Correct Your Thinking

Let’s say the house next door is getting renovated. The workers are doing their job sincerely but the sound they are making is loud enough to blast the eardrums. You feel restless. You rebel and get angry with them because you feel that you are troubled by the noise and no one is understanding that. But why are you so agitated?

Your suffering is due to your past recording that says, ‘Others, not me, are creators of my joy and sorrow. My work, studies and sleep are disturbed because of noise.’ Wake up to the understanding that, ‘I am unhappy and restless because of my own incompatible attitude.’ Now, let the new recording play, ‘Not others, but I alone am the creator of my joy and sorrow. I am responsible for everything that happens with me. Sound does not hinder me, I am a hindrance to the sound.’

You may feel that this isn’t fair. Some thoughtless, insensitive people make noise that the whole neighbourhood can hear and I am blamed even though I am peacefully studying in a corner. How can I be a hindrance to it? How can silence hinder noise?

The Cause of the Stress

Open your eyes and look at your recordings from a distance. You’ll realise that the thought that makes you suffer is wrong. Then, even if it is old, well-established, and common, the moment that thought comes in the light of awareness, it gradually begins to loosen its grip on you and melts away.

The stress is real but one thing is clear – it’s certainly not their fault. The fault lies with your wrongly set principles, your stubbornness, your beliefs, and your insistence. You have created a notion that I am a very sensitive, sentimental, soft-natured, and introvert person. I need peace, solitude, and silence for my work, and without that, I just cannot work. It is my birthright to live in a noise-free environment and others must respect my right and remain silent.

A spiritually inclined and peaceful person is not one who dislikes noise, disorder, and the bustle. But he is one who remains steady within, in spite of all of them. Therefore, your opinion is wrong! The fact is that you are habituated to being intolerant to noise. It is no different from those who are habituated to being tolerant to noise. They cannot live without noise! Had your recording said, ‘noise is irrelevant, it cannot affect my sleep or work, I don’t need absolute silence to concentrate’, then today, your condition would have been different. So work on changing your attitude.

Change Attitude

Your wrong logic says, ‘I would have been in a better condition if I had the other habit. But what can I do now? I am helpless. My nerves are under stress and I can’t relax. And unless I relax, I cannot work or sleep properly. So the only solution is to suffer and wait patiently. My destiny!’ Defending yourself in this manner is absolutely wrong and must be stopped if you wish to progress spiritually. Just as you had convinced your brain that noise couldn’t be tolerated, you must now set it as ‘noise can be tolerated. If others can tolerate, why can’t I?’

Only after you are convinced that noise cannot spoil your work, will you realise that you were a hindrance to noise. The noise certainly is and will remain. The world is noisy and you have to live in this world only. Whether you like it or not, this is the reality. Whatever you may do, it will remain the same. To oppose is like kicking a rock. The rock will not move but you will get hurt. By complaining, not accepting, and resisting what is, you are being a hindrance and inviting your own loss. Being in harmony with the reality, accepting and giving space for what is, is the right path. If you don’t resist the noise, it cannot disturb you.