March 7, 2026 | Posted in: Living Hartfully
Continuing along the path of hushing out the noise, take a look at how you can quiet the excess noise at many levels to live more Hartfully with less distraction from things that don’t add value to your days.
Consider some serious editing of old habits, patterns of behavior that no longer serve you, relationships or workplaces or the type of work that has become toxic to who you are becoming. Question why you do what you do and how you do what you do, what is it that directs the way you behave? Are you truly responding to the present moment, situation, or person, or it is just a habitual reflex and reaction vs. a thoughtful response? What kinds of behavior, people, things, situations and ways of being don’t feel comfortable anymore? Are you getting antsy about something or it just doesn’t fit the same as it did for you earlier in life? You may just be running on auto pilot and you may need to shake things up and ask the hard questions of yourself to hush some of that noise that’s in your head.
Cognitive hushing is editing out information, knowledge, news, opinions, movies/TV shows/radio shows/social media/other forms of media that steal your time and take up space in your brain for no good benefit. Doom scrolling with no real purpose is like junk food for your brain. If you feel the need to zone out in front of a screen, at least learn something from an expert on a topic of value that will benefit your life and move you in the direction of your goals in some way. Understanding we all need down time and some brain candy now and again, as long as it’s not a steady diet. You can’t solve all the world’s problems, so why are they taking up space in your head? Control what comes into your sub-conscious by purposefully choosing what you read, watch, listen to on a daily basis. A handy reminder is that other people’s opinions are none of your business – form your own opinions on things that actually matter to you.
Psychological and emotional hushing is getting rid of the noise, like a buzzing gnat in your mind of unfinished business, anxiety, worry, doubt, fear, and a host of other emotions that are completely controlled by what your mind thinks about them. It can all change with a decision and the moment a decision is made, things start to change. It takes making a decision time and time again before it becomes a habit and there will be some back-sliding, but it gives you inertia to keep going in the positive direction. Emotional noise can come from other people who are not good for you, maybe unsafe physically or emotionally, abusive people, negative thinkers, narcissists, bullies, those who ghost you or don’t respect your time or your boundaries, users, adversarial types, energy vampires who suck all the time/energy out of you, or those that live below the line.
I call it liberation from low vibration. You want to distance yourself from the low-functioning, low vibration people, places, things, thoughts, and habits that have been allowed to enter your life. More posts about low vibration and high vibration later. If you’ve got a constant scrolling of bad news, negative thoughts, upsetting anxiety running on a continuous loop, you may choose to seek professional help to walk away from those things that are holding you back from living Hartfully. If you feel stuck, sick much of the time, sick and tired of how things have been going for you or tired of the negativity, there is help available. Because there is a better way to be and show up and it’s up to you to decide how firm or porous your boundaries are going to be and what you allow into your brain and your life.
Choose to hush the noise, let go of the cognitive, psychological and emotional baggage that is weighing you down to lead a calmer life in congruence with your heart and fully alive. Journaling is a great first step. Do a brain dump of what’s on your mind to start your day with a fresh slate and clear mind.
I’ve also found that when I get ideas and noise creeps into my mind in the middle of the night, I just tell Alexa to give me a reminder of that later in the morning so I can release it from my brain knowing I’ll be reminded the next mornings where I can write it down or do something with it. That simple act allows me to go back to sleep feeling lighter from the release of that thought without having to wake up to write it down or awaken my eyeballs to type a reminder on a screen. I just tell Alexa what to do. I also keep all screens out of my bedroom for a more peaceful sleep.
