We all have our struggles certain days don’t we? For some people it’s anger. For others it’s addictions to certain things. For others it might be self destructive patterns we fall into over time.

Being human can be a real challenge can’t it?

If you are currently dealing with any of these issues or any other human condition, what I’m about to share might help you.

So by now you’re probably wondering what it is that is my pet peeve. Let me lay a little background first.

Ever since changing my diet to 100% raw vegan back in 2003 (which I did for 7 years, wow!) I’ve become more and more desirous to live a quiet and peaceful life. I got less interested in living a hectic chaotic lifestyle in some bustling city. I never wanted that to begin with but the idea of living in a city never seemed horrible to me either.

I don’t know what it is, something about reconnecting to our food and the earth through diet has changed me. Do you feel like that?

We don’t live in a major city but where we do live is VERY loud and noisy. We live in a little beach community (which are known for attracting sometimes less than desirable folks) and people are packed in here like sardines. There are many apartment buildings on every street (which means there’s no parking – too many people squeezed into a small area) which makes for a very loud and challenging living situation to say the least.

We live on the corner of a 4 way stop and one of the streets is a direct thoroughfare to the beach. The upside is that we’re 1 block from the beach, sand and surf!

With all that said, it’s incredibly noisy and loud here. There are trash trucks, construction, service vehicles, firetrucks, ambulances, diesel engine trucks, fireworks on top of people working all over the place. What’s particularly the worst is each day about a half a dozen Harley Davidson motorbike riders will go by. They’ll rev their engines so loud it’ll set multiple car alarms off on the street and make all our neighbors upset.

If I wanted that level of noise I’d go live in the city right?

So that’s my pet peeve. Can you relate?

So Here’s What Has Been Helping Me…

Lately I’ve been taking up the practice of doing daily meditation and Qigong. Many people’s first reaction to meditation is that “Oh I can’t do sit around, not do anything and have no thoughts!”

But when you realize the incredible upside to meditation it might just become worth it to you to give it a try.

I don’t do anything fancy when I meditate. I set an online egg timer for 15 minutes and close my eyes and breath deep. During that 15 minutes I simply focus on my breath. Yes I think thoughts, yes I start worrying about what I have to do and then go down that rabbit hole of all the things that need to get done that day.

Then when I realize I’m grateful because who’s doing the thinking? Do two people live inside me or one? There’s me and then the person who’s doing all this thinking.

Wow.

Here’s What I Am Not…

So that must mean a lot of other things as well. I am not my personality. I am not my possessions. I am not my opinions. We might think we are our opinions but were you fully you before you formed an opinion? Of course you were. It’s like saying if I cut my arms and legs off I have half as much soul. I possess all these things but none of these things are actually “me”.

Hmmm…

Then I realize who’s getting upset when that Harley Davidson goes by? Is that me, my story or my programming? Then I started to wake up and realize that that person that gets upset is some person other than me. For me this opened a whole new world up.

So here’s what meditation seems to be doing for me. When I meditate and realize I’m thinking, I use that as an exercise to see the thought for what it is, take a deep breath and release it and let it go. When I do that, I’m consistently teaching my subconscious over and over again through repetitive exercise, that there’s a separation that exists between my thoughts, ideas and opinions…..and me!

Now when something loud happens where we live, I’m able to observe the event like a 3rd party witness with no judgement. I’ll use that space I created during meditation to pray for that person who’s making all that noise. I’ll ask God to reveal himself to them and to guide their life where it needs to go.

The act of realizing I am not my reactions helps to create that small gap between these two parts of myself and then act consciously within that gap to do something constructive and helpful to both that other person and me.

If you’re interested a good friend of ours Tristan Truscott has created a meditation course you might like called The Art of Mushin Meditation to help further your growth in this area in case you’re interested.

So what about you?

How have you been overcoming your pet peeves? Share in the comments below!