One of the things we find out quite quickly once we start meditating is just how many distractions there seem to be around us. Here I'm talking about external distractions, there are plenty of internal ones too, which I'll talk about on later posts.
Living in urban areas brings all sorts of noise, the sound of traffic being perhaps the most common, whether it's the continuous drone of traffic or the screech of brakes, the sound of sirens or the revving of engines. We are unlikely to find ourselves in situations where there are no cars or traffic, so what is to done when we sit to meditate? The practice is to just be with whatever sound it is we hear, this just being is just being with sound itself. Not even identifying the source of the sound if possible.
In my experience if I can just be aware, a bare awareness of sound from the streets, if I don't put my energy towards identifying the sounds they settle into the background of my experience.
If on the other hand I start to identify the sound of the cars, start thinking for example, who is it who is obviously breaking the speed limit tearing up this residential street! my mind is immediately fastening on the sound, making judgements, which may or may not be true, and I am preoccupied long after the car has gone and my meditation suffers.
So if we can practice sitting amid the various sounds of the world around us, with a bare awareness, hearing sounds as just sounds, letting the noise drift in and out of our experience without getting worked up about it, we will be able to deepen and enrich our meditation.
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