I live near a venue where professional and televised basketball, football, and baseball games are played.  In this Age of The Internet, advertisers still use low-flying planes with banners that fly incessantly over my house.  During playoffs, helicopters and blimps hover over the arena.  The noise is irritating, but used to drive me into a rage, especially on a nice Sunday morning when I was trying to enjoy peace and quiet.

I would stand outside, document the fly-over times, and submit written complaints to the airport noise officer, who would send confirmations, but do nothing else.  I did this consistently for about six months – a total waste of my time and energy.

I have neighbors who used to play loud, bass-containing, rap music with N, F, and B words for hours on end.  I would incur their anger by repeatedly asking them to turn it down, earning the reputation as the mean lady on the block.  I would complain about people leaving vehicles in front of my house and numerous other nuisances.  I did not enjoy living in my house, primarily because of external irritants.

When meditating, I like to have complete silence.  In the past, if there was noise, I became so distracted I stopped meditating.  Isn’t that crazy?  There is always noise of some kind.  The thoughts of your mind are louder than any external thing.  If you become quiet enough, you can hear your heartbeat or the hum of energy surrounding you.

I finally decided to try to be peace in order to have peace, primarily by looking within.

Irritation is a signal to check behavior, intent, and mental condition.  For example, one day, I was driving on a two-lane street about to merge into one lane.  A woman to my left sped up.  Interpreting her action to mean that she wanted to insure that I didn’t get in front of her, I felt irritation.  “Why is she doing that?  To save herself a second?”  My first response was to speed up to make sure that she didn’t get in front of me.  “I’ll show her!”

By checking my irritation, I saw that what was inside of me was actually being expressed through her.  She was my consciousness manifestated in physical form.  This awareness was a signal to me to let her go ahead, to let her have the right of way, and to reflect upon what I needed to do to change myself.

All I can really control is my behavior, my intent, and my expression.

With the plane noise, I began to leave the house.  I’d re-characterize it as a positive impetus to go exercise.  Later, I would sit and meditate, using the noise as a focus of concentration.  This addressed two issues – my negative reaction to the noise and my inability to meditate with noise.

Now, I use noise as a form of meditation, an attempt to hear beyond my senses.  If I block that which is apparent, how will I develop the ability to hear what cannot readily be heard – the Voice within or the highest notes of the Universe?

To deal with my neighbors, I created a space of peace and love encompassing my property and the sidewalk and street in front of the property.  Whenever the boys on bicycles with speakers congregated in front of my house or my neighbor across the street sat in his car playing loud music, I would see them enveloped in love and peace.  Even when the street was empty, I maintained an energy zone through which I visualized people receiving a positive boost as they went through it.  Although I decided to do this, I was astonished by the results.  Maybe the boy across the street grew up, but he began to turn his music off once he pulled up to the house.  The bicycle boys stopped congregating in front.

Currently, I am practicing seeing God/Good in all that is.  Notice that I say “practice.”  Truly, I am not even halfway successful; but, the idea informs my speech and behavior.  I look at whatever is going on and try to find a way to accept it and re-define it as positive; if not to me, then to the person or entity that is doing something.  Each of us feels justified in our actions.  I want to acknowledge that.  I am becoming more successful in keeping my mouth shut and re-directing my focus.  When I feel that I must act, I try to speak from a place of peace, of understanding, and communicate what I am feeling as opposed to what the other should or should not be doing.

The irritants in my neighborhood and in my life have diminished, perhaps because I am projecting a higher consciousness.  I try to remember that I am creating my world.  If I want peace, I must be peace.

What ways are you being peace?