Hear Yourself

Sharing my learnings from the book, Hear Yourself by Prem Warat

Hear Yourself by Prem Warat

The noise of modern life can be deafening, leaving us feeling frazzled and uneasy. In this warm, wise book, Prem Rawat teaches us how to turn down the noise to “hear ourselves”—to listen to the subtle song of peace that sings inside each of us. Once we learn this, we can hold on to it as we face all the turmoil of the world.

• Faced with distractions and the demands of everyday life, we’ve forgotten how to access the sense of peace that has been inside us since we were born. Hear Yourself is a book that provides us methods on how we can access our inner peace.
• We’re all servants to the “busyness of life”. We let trivial things control our agenda to the point where time seems to melt in thin air. In doing so, we miss out on all the rich experiences that life has to offer.
• technology’s not the only thing at fault. the constant drive for achievement is a distraction from what is good in the present moment. our problem is that we seek peace in the wrong places. We flee from stress by going on long vacations to remote islands or escaping up high mountains. But unless we can find peace within ourselves, the noise will always follow us.
• Reconnecting with the peace within isn’t about cutting yourself off from technology or civilization. It’s about building a solid foundation of calm and strength – and then using that to keep you steady, even in the darkest of times.
• You don’t create peace and install it inside yourself. Instead, you uncover what’s already there by letting go of what is trivial and not needed.
• Finding inner peace has a lot to do with choice. You choose to give your time and attention only to what matters: to tasks you must do or to things you find fulfilling. Everything else – the stress, the thoughts, the anxieties, the expectations – is just noise. 
  • stop focusing on the negative feelings within you and instead strengthen the positives. 
  • Living happily and consciously is recognizing that you have a choice. You can pour your energy into what builds you up – and avoid the things that weigh you down. 
• Learning to live in the now will help you recognize you have everything you need in this moment. 
  • In busy moments, pause and ask yourself 2 questions: “What is the value of time if we don’t understand the value of each breath?” and, “If now is not important to me, how can yesterday or tomorrow be important?” The questions will remind you what is important is happening right now.
  • Change your perspective of time. although the external world may function by the ticking clock, our internal world feels the moment as absolute, or infinite. No matter what we do, or what plans we make for the future, we can only live in the present moment.
• Other people’s judgment seems to be a huge concern for many of us in our day-to-day lives. Too often, we waste energy worrying about other people’s opinions of our work, our personality, or even the home we live in. The thing is, no one can fill that emptiness for us. First and foremost, we must cherish who we are. 
  • you need to “start with yourself.” That is, you should accept and harness the wonderful strengths and resources already inside you. 
  • When you feel centered, the chatter of the outside world slips into insignificance. And you discover that the seeds of clarity, joy, serenity, and love are already inside you
• Setting expectations is how we shape our lives. And it isn’t necessarily harmful. What is harmful is when we set expectations that don’t square with reality. 
  • Finding inner peace has a lot to do with being flexible – and simply accepting what is.
  • If you’re having a good phase, be aware that bad times will come at some point. And if you’re having a bad phase, know that good times will also follow.
• Whatever your circumstances are, you need to find a way to get clarity, peace, and understanding into your life. You do that by appreciating the most important thing you have: your very existence.
• Gratitude isn’t something that you can think into being; it’s something you feel. feeling gratitude is a choice.
• If you can accept, experience, and appreciate things as they are, then you can stop desiring what you don’t have – whether that’s possessions or other people.
• When you value every breath, you discover that this is reality. And it is here that you can find immeasurable peace and joy.
• People often try to pass responsibility onto others as a form of escapism. But the day we start looking at ourselves instead, we discover that we have more power than we knew.
• Whatever your circumstances are, you need to create your own sense of freedom. Our lives aren’t perfect, but we can all feel peace inside us – if we choose.
• If one person decides not to show love and kindness to others, the ripples of that decision are felt throughout the world. But the opposite is also true. If we find peace within ourselves, at first it might only change how we think and act as individuals – but soon it will ripple outward. Our acts will combine with others; collectively, we can join together to create peace on a global scale. 
• If you can look inside yourself to build this peace and strength, you’ll find you can share these qualities with the people around you. Do that and you’ll be creating a stronger, brighter world – one pixel at a time.