Saturday, February 11, 2012

What's Your White Noise?

I love going to bed with the humidifier running. Or in the summertime, the sound of the fan gently humming in the background lulls me to sleep as well. Maybe some of you have these "dream machines" or apps for your smart phone that create some kind of white noise to bring a restful night's sleep.

What is it about these kinds of sounds that puts us at ease? I'm sure science would say that it has something to do with the sound waves and the way our brain interacts with them that facilitates sleep. For me it's all about constancy. It's having a consistent sound that can fill in the holes of all the other activity around me, whether it's dogs barking or people talking or music playing. There's something nice about having a sound that I can count on to smooth out the other cacophony of life.

I started thinking about how that factors into other times in life. It seems to me that we all need a little white noise, a little consistency around us, especially when there are so many other unanswered questions. Are there people you can count on to be there no matter what else is going on in your life or theirs who can help to smoothe out those rough bumps in the road? Is it your friends, your family, your spiritual or religious community? Whoever or whatever it is, we all need something to carry us through those difficult moments. Ironically, their consistency usually causes them to fade into the background of our consciousness. Rather than taking these people or places for granted, every now and then it's nice to recognize them, to embrace them and to tell them how much of a difference they make in creating peace in a sometimes-chaotic world.

Here's wishing you all a little white noise in the days to come...

In wooosh,
Todd

PS. I am happy to announce that I will be returning to Songleader Boot Camp in St. Louis next week. I will be teaching alongside Rick Recht and Sheldon Low and mentoring over 85 songleaders from around the country.

PPS. In other news, I Just wanted to let you know that I was recently published as a guest contributor on the Jewish Music Voice blog at http://jewishrockradio.com/blog/jewish-music-old-wisdomnew-connections/#more-133 sponsored by Jewish Rock Radio - the first high-caliber, 24/7 internationalJewish rock internet radio station. Please check out my article, make comments, and share! You can also click here to “Like” Jewish Rock Radio on Facebook or follow JRR on Twitter @JewishRockRadio.