We are encompassed by noise from the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep.
We’re not just referring to physical noise and noise pollution; we’re talking about anything that can steer you away from thinking for yourself and distracting you from living.
Welcome to Snapreads! Today, we will look at how one can find clarity in the noisy world we are inhabiting.
Thinking Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman
⏱ 12 minutes reading time
🎧 Audio version available
Wake Up Early
We live in such a hectic world where people wake up minutes before they’re supposed to, and they barely have enough time to do anything other than getting dressed and grab a quick cup of coffee before heading out to start the day.
You’ll find that most people think that they don’t have enough time in the morning, because who would want to get up when you can catch ten more minutes of sleep in the morning?
But waking up early in the morning makes all the difference– even if it’s just a mere hour before you go about your day. It allows you to be alone in the peaceful hours of the morning and practice the stillness and quietness that we all desire.
However, I think we can all agree that waking up early is easy in theory and difficult in practice– especially if you’re not used to waking up in the early hours of the morning.
Becoming an early riser isn’t just beneficial for mental clarity; it gives you enough time to take a breather and start the day off on the right foot, as opposed to rushing around to make it on time.
Moreover, it has been scientifically proven that being a morning person will make you more successful. Not only do morning people feel more productive, but they’re also much happier than their counterparts who stay up during the night and spend the next day feeling rather grumpy.
Stay Up Late
There are people who, no matter what, can’t make themselves wake up early in the morning. Perhaps it’s their busy schedule that forces them to stay awake during the wee hours of the morning, or possibly staying in bed is more tempting than to wake up early and face the world.
If you’re one of those people, the solution is pretty simple; stay up late at night. When we say stay up late, we don’t mean staying up to binge-watch a TV show or spend endless hours glued to your smartphone screen– it’s more about turning off all electronics and spending these hours in quietness and solace.
Make Time For Yourself
In our day and age, a lot of social media accounts have been raving about self-care. With the overwhelming amount of posts, it has gotten to a point where it’s almost impossible not to find a self-care post on your Facebook timeline or Instagram feed.
Well, while it’s usually never advised to let social media influence or affect you, this is the one instance–and probably the only one–where you can listen to social media. Self-care is essential, yet, it’s highly overlooked. We never put ourselves first and struggle to find time for ourselves.
Weeks and even months can pass without even spending just an hour to prioritize our wants and needs– and that adds to our already stressful lives.
Making time for yourself and taking a break is exceptionally crucial for your well-being and happiness. The best part about it is the fact that there’s no such thing as right or wrong in self-care; if you’re someone who enjoys reading, you can grab your favorite book and allow yourself to get lost in it.
Whether it’s jogging, exercising, meditating, doing yoga, there are no limits as to how you can spend your ‘me’ time. Self-care could be as simple as grabbing a cup of coffee. Anything works as long as you make time for yourself away from this overstimulating world.
Meditate
When it comes to clarity, there’s nothing as efficient as meditating. In fact, meditating will let you increase awareness of yourself and your surroundings to concentrate on what matters.
It lets you develop a more vital understanding of yourself and your thoughts, recognize destructive thoughts, and create constructive patterns out of them.
What’s so great about meditation is that it doesn’t require an expert to do it properly, nor is it necessary to acquire special tools or equipment.
Only taking a couple of minutes to mediate within the comfort of your own home daily will go a long way. And if you’re a beginner, there are tons of videos, websites, and mobile apps that will show you, step by step, how to meditate correctly.
If it’s impossible to find a quiet place where you can meditate without being interrupted, consider joining a meditation class where you will be surrounded by a supportive community in the same position as you.
Disconnect Your Phone, And Yourself
Do you remember the last time when you spent more than a day without browsing social media? It’s fair to estimate that 80% of the population uses social media.
We eat, sleep, and breathe social media. Without realizing it, we’re letting our phones run and dictate our lives to the point where we use them the minute we open our eyes in the morning.
Even when we’re not online, our phones still receive hundreds of notifications every day. You don’t have to quit social media cold turkey; you can start small by ditching your phone one hour before you sleep and one hour after you wake up.
Keep your phone hidden from sight as you work, and keep it silent to not let it be a distraction. Allow yourself a certain number of hours each day to browse social media, and try not to go over that limit.
If you’re not convinced, ask yourself; at the end of our lives, are we going to wish we had spent more time online?
Make a Decision
We spend way too much time being indecisive; there are always what-ifs questions lingering at the back of our minds, plaguing us with self-doubt and stopping us from making decisions.
When you decide, you create a clear path for yourself because you cut off all the other options. You will know where your path is and that makes a more significant and clearer image for you.
Please take action to make a decision, and accept the consequences, whether they’re positive or negative. After all, if the results weren’t what you desired, you can learn from them and move on to become a better person.
Stop Holding On To Things
We hold on to things that make us feel more safe and secure. However, later on, those things will enslave your well-being and cause you more harm than good. It’s even safe to say that in the long run, these things will make you suffer and will steal your happiness altogether.
Our minds become so occupied with things and thoughts that trouble us, and it becomes more and more difficult to let these things go. And the more these thoughts cloud our minds, the less we will think clearly and focus.
Learn to let go of things because, after all, nothing lasts forever. Letting go is something that doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a long process that takes time and effort. Overcoming this barrier is extremely rewarding and will give you clarity that you’ve never thought you needed before.
Related: 5 Simple Daily Habits You Should Track If You Want to Drastically Improve Your Life
Create a Filter For Yourself
Sometimes, it’s not possible to run away from the noise. Whether it’s a pessimistic person who doesn’t hesitate to voice their negative thoughts, or maybe it’s an activity that leads you to feel depressed, noise can be just about anything.
If you give that noise more space than it should have, you’ll eventually become the type of noise you allow.
The best thing to do in this situation is to create a filter for yourself, never allow that noise to affect you in ways that it shouldn’t. The only kind of noise that you should let into your life is the kind that will lift you up rather than breaking you down in a negative way.
Tune Out the Noise
There’s no way to control the noisy world we live in; in every path we take, the noise will follow us. It consumes us so much that we sometimes forget who we are.
So, how can one tune out the noise when it surrounds us everywhere we go? The first step you need to take is to unplug from the noise, stay away from everything that distracts you from thinking clearly to make room for your thoughts and feelings.
Take time for yourself to step away from the noise and tune it out during that time. It will take time and practice to tune out the noise when the world gets too loud; however, what’s important is the fact that it’s possible.
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