There is more to music than we can ever put into words. And I think it’s the same with people. Language cannot fully describe who we are. Labels, boxes, and pigeonholes fall short.

Maybe we call it our creative voice. However we describe it, our “sound” is that indescribable spirit that makes us who we are.

But it’s fragile and can quickly get lost beneath the world’s ocean of noise.

Join me on Saturday, May 20th, 2023, for the inaugural Gentle Humdinger Workshop, where we will identify and explore the inner creative voice that often gets drowned out by the noise of everyday life.

https://youtu.be/KcvKwqEedCs

Sometimes life feels like trying to play a fragile folk song in a rowdy club on New Year’s Eve.

At other times, however, we attempt forcing the instrument to do something it’s not designed for. So we end up bending ourselves out of shape and burning out.

The Impact of Noise

I’ve always been fascinated by the impact of sound design on mood and meaning in TV and film. Of course, if you’ve ever watched a horror film with the sound off, you’ll know what I mean. Because it doesn’t pack quite the same punch without the noises.

https://youtu.be/ajyr50xeztM

Hearing The Same Thing in Different Ways

We are influenced by the soundtrack playing within us.

We all think we see things objectively, but in reality, two people can look at the situation differently. It doesn’t always mean one person is wrong. On the contrary, things are always more complicated than they appear.

We hear the other person, but we also hear it alongside a whole load of internal noise.

Anticipation and Evidence

On the whole, we see what we anticipate.

When we are in a sitcom, we are ready to laugh. In a horror movie, we are primed to jump. When in an action film, we are prepared to run or fight.

How do some people seem to allow things to wash over them while others in the same situation react as if the world is about to end?

Decision Making

When swept up in the ocean of noise, we are more likely to make decisions that take us away from our creative spirit. Noise creates urgency, scarcity, and competition.

When we’re in the noise, be it a state of fear, overwhelm, hangover, stress etc. So we might make an impulsive decision…”I’m quitting, never doing anything like this again, buying a new car, or buying a wireless in-ear monitoring system” (listen to the episode for that story).

Sources of Noise in Everyday Life

Our natural sound, voice, and creative spirit can become lost in the world’s chaos. We accept and amplify the demands, expectations, and assumptions without much thought.

But where does the ocean of noise come from? What component parts leave us unable to see the wood for the trees in this way (overwhelmed, burned out, and operating in a chronic state of stress)?

https://youtu.be/WvHNkiEWZGw

The Ocean of Information

It comes from news media and information overload. An unending and unresolved source of instant updates from all over the world.

Noise is stimulation without clarity and resolution. The news is precisely that-a flow of traumatic things we can’t resolve or control.

The Ocean of Toxic Positivity

Toxic positivity is the lie of limitless and groundless possibility in a finite world.

It’s the message we can do anything, be anyone, and uncover our unlimited potential. It’s a state of overwhelm in an unlimited can-do reality, where impossible is nothing, we should “Just Do It”, and every no is just another step closer to success.

This overwhelming disturbance gets louder, faster, and more intrusive. It’s the sound of humanity waging war on itself, and it takes us away from the expansive, playful, beautiful sound within us. The sound of joy, connection, laughter, and meaning. The creativity, adventure, and curiosity. It’s been replaced by the drive to produce, be helpful, and prove ourselves.

The Ocean of Sensory Stimulation

Highly sensitive people get rapidly drained in a world where the volume is always turned up. It’s exhausting to exist without true rest.

The Sound of The Inner-Critic

The waves of noise come through the voices we pick up along the way. Our inner critic might take the shape of internalised figures. A parent, teacher, family member, friend, or stranger. Someone who said the wrong thing at the perfect time for a cold bucket of water to pour all over our creative spirit.

“You don’t deserve to be here!” “Who do you think you are?” “You’re too sensitive!” etc.

Our natural sound gets lost in the noise. It is prohibited by the message we internalise from the world around us and drowned out by a world of people competing to be first, best, biggest, loudest, and most successful.

Connecting To Our Sound Within The Ocean of Noise

Your sound is your creative spirit. It’s your connection with life. What evokes a sense of purpose and emotion in you?

What does your music sound like?

https://youtu.be/m-bOttdZK00

If someone you know well (with whom you have a positive relationship) were to describe you, what words might they use?

What role do you tend to play in a relationship? A friendship? A social group?

Does that feel like you, or is it a role you’ve learned to play? How would you LIKE people to describe you? What would people say is important to you?

We can end up playing other people’s tunes. People pleasing, fitting in, and going along with the crowd. In the fog of noise, we chase goals we don’t personally care about.

The Gentle Humdinger Workshop

In the Gentle Humdinger workshop on Saturday, 20th May, we will get beneath the ocean of noise and reconnect with your inner creative spirit. We will be letting go of the stuff you might do to fit in, please people, or pretend you’re not quite as weird as we all know you are deep down. I’d love you to join me!

Learn more here…

Livestream Gig

After the workshop, I am doing a livestream gig on YouTube to celebrate the release of my new single, Raise a Glass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_4SCOrafWQ