50 Million Suffer From Tinnitus In US

Did you know that about 50 million people in the US suffer from Tinnitus?  Of course, some statistics state different numbers.  Regardless of which statistic you use, there are many out there who deal with this on a daily basis.  If you or someone you know suffers from Tinnitus, you may want to watch the following YouTube video or check out the ATA (American Tinnitus Association).

YouTube Link:  Tinnitus - Can You Hear That?

Related Blog Posts:
1)  White Noise And Ocean Waves (Posted July 24, 2011)
2)  Check out Tinnitus Miracle

Life Is Not About Right Or Wrong

Growing up, everything in life was black and white and I'm not referring to race issues. I'm referring to how you lived, the decisions you made and the rules by which you followed each day. I know not everyone lived this way but in my family, with the world I lived in, everything was one right or wrong.

We would go to church each Sunday and listen to a minister dictate what was right and wrong for our life. Of course, they could back it up with scripture, rules, discipline or whatever was at their disposal. There was a plentiful supply of ammunition in order to make things fall into one of the two categories, right and wrong.

Today, we don't have to go far to see the same thing taking place in our society. Whether it is medicine, new age concepts, religion, politics or news, we are living in a time where everything is one side of an issue or another. There is no middle ground. There is no common ground. It is either my way or the highway so to speak.

No one stops to listen to the other person's point of view and sees where maybe they agree. It is all about scoring points and sensationalizing the stories of our day. It is all about control and manipulation to get others to agree with our defined set of beliefs and rules.

Yet, by doing this we show how little we value others who do not share our set of beliefs, rules and opinions. While I'm sure we have our own set of facts, data and research to back up what we say, it is in many ways, still an opinion or belief we hold. Many things that we hold as absolutes in this world do not come close to measuring up to that designation.

If we truly want to hold fast to humans enduring for years to come, we need to begin to not just see things as black and white, right and wrong. We need to open ourselves up to listen to others and truly hear what they have to say. For if we impose our will, our beliefs and our judgments on other people, than we are holding not only them as captive to us, but we have lost site of who we are as a human.


Further Reading:
1) Freedom From Pain (Blog Post 9/10/10)
2) Beliefs Are Often Regurgitated Rhetoric (Blog Post 6/3/11)




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http://www.donshetterly.com

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Quiet Please, Just Listen

I feel like there are times when I live in a world full of talkers. You know, the ones that just sometimes won't be quiet for two seconds. Whether it is on the phone, in person, or even through online methods, it just seems like there is no end in sight.

Have you ever been in a restaurant and you get seated close to some talkative people where they are not only nonstop but somewhat loud. Or what about the person that gets you on the phone and you can't get a word in regardless of how many attempts you make. They just go on and on until you begin to wonder what they said to you.

My Dad loved to hear himself talk, regardless if you wanted to sit there and listen or not, you had no say or choice in that matter. Some of what he said was good and a lot of it was dribble.

When we constantly talk and dominate conversations, there is something that is out of balance. Yes, there might be something good in what you say, but if you are not engaging the listener, than are you truly being heard? If a talker is not listening to the other person, are they really respecting the listener?

It always frustrates me when I encounter these people because to me, if they think they have to run the mouth off, who am I to force them to stop. They don't listen for a moment any way. However, I get to the point where I avoid them because it is no longer fun trying to have a conversation with them and I feel invalidated and disrespected.

We were given two ears on our body and one mouth. Our minds are meant to control the flow in and the flow out. Giving the mouth more time and energy is not finding a healthy balance with the ears. Remember, if you have two ears, there should be more time given to listening rather than talking.

Try listening a little more and you may find just how much you learn as those around you may feel a little more valued. Not everything we speak is important for the world to hear but when you listen to someone, you've given them a valued place in life that could be life altering.



Blog Post & Images (c) 4/28/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

We Hear What We Want To Hear

I look around the world of humans and I see so much evidence of what humans want to hear is what they actually hear. Yes, we give lip service in our world to being open to other ideas and holding the space for others and being there but in many ways, we hear what we want to hear. Please note, that I use the word "we" and "they" collectively to represent humans as a whole.

Whether it is in politics, religious circles, new age healing practices or every day life, our ears are tuned into what makes us feel good, not what is actually being spoken or transmitted. With the internet, we bombard ourselves with so much noisy communication that we just numb ourselves a little further into the reality of illusions.

Take for instance, the news pundits on TV. Do you think they truly sit there for a minute listening to the other side of the issue? I would suggest that they do not. Their position is already determined and is one of the reasons they are brought on the news show. If the pundits from both sides of the issue listened and agreed, most viewers would turn the TV off or switch the channel. We hear what we want to hear!

Observe the recent Quran burning by Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida. I'm not going to attempt to get into the right and wrong of this event because there are many in the world screaming one way or another on this. What I want to point out though is that neither side is listening to the other. They have no intentions of listening to the other side. They don't care what the other side thinks as long as the other side comes around to their way of thinking. Again, what "we" hear is what "we" want to hear.

Often times we encounter moments in our life where we hear things from others that challenge us and make us step into a world that is not comfortable to us. Instead of wanting to hear these things, we often run back to our corner and hide where it is safe. Yet, we then continue to ask for guidance or blessings from whoever our source in life is, when it is standing right there before our eyes. Once again, we hear what we want to hear.

There are moments, that we ask and question all that is around us. We feel that we don't have the answers we need to move forward in life. Life becomes difficult and we struggle. Instead of going into ourselves and listening to that which we know is there, we seek answers out from all kinds of new age people, to ministers and churches, and to things such as numbing substances we consume. Instead of hearing the answers within ourselves, we hear what we want to hear and we don't hear that which we don't want to hear.

Yes, it makes us feel safe if someone tells us something we should do and it makes us feel valuable if we tell someone something that they should do. While there can be value to that, if we are not careful, we are giving up our power to something that is not whole and pure. I'm not denying that other people have insights and can help us find our way through the maze of life, but we have to be careful in what is being said.

Outside of learning to listen to others and hearing what is actually being said, we need to open ourselves to how we have built walls up to surround ourselves. Through the pureness of love, we need to open our arms to others that we don't want to hear and to things in our own life that we do not want to hear. They are our building blocks to greater awareness and evolving as a human is meant to evolve.

What if, instead of trying to tell the person what they should do, you actually just walk hand in hand with them so that they will find what it is they need to do? How about actually listening to what a person is saying without thinking of your position and how you will respond? What if you could just be there in that moment with another or yourself and allow the discomfort to push you forward rather than running for cover in your hiding place?

As I have written, we hear what we want to hear, and we do this not only with others but ourselves. We need to open our minds, our hearts and our ears to how this fits us in our life. It is more than what the "other" people do around us or what our "clients" and our "friends and family" fail to see.

It is about how we view the world and how we hear what truly is being spoken. For if we only hear what we want to hear, then we are not only holding our own evolution back but we are a drag on the rest of humanity.



Blog Post & Images (c) 4/02/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com