New Year, New Ear
Ringing in the New Ear
On New Year’s Eve, many people in the United States and around the world will ring in the new year by dropping the infamous bell in New York’s Times Square. Bells and ringing have long been associated with the transition from one year to another. In fact, the Latin word for “ringing” is tinnire, to tinkle or ring like the sound of a bell. This is the same root for our word for ringing in our ears: tinnitus.
I know tinnitus well because my husband, his brother, and many of their friends are career musicians and some of them suffer from tinnitus. Tinnitus happens to musicians when they get nerve damage in their ear from overexposure to loud sounds. They know that the sounds are too loud, but they ignore the problem because their livelihood requires them to push on through. Yet, at some point, doing their life’s work becomes too painful to continue as is.
The solution is, of course, to never get to that point. But that requires a different kind of listening—not listening to the external sounds coming in, but rather listening to the internal sounds struggling to emerge. The inner voice that’s saying “hey, this hurts” or “hey this feels way better” is the right voice to pay attention to. It takes a retraining of the ear to hear the inner voice and heed its call.
My New Year’s Resolution
In the past, I haven’t done New Year’s Resolutions because I’ve always had so many things that I have wanted to change and the end of the year has never felt especially timely in that regard. But over the years I have met and befriended people who have made amazing almost impossible changes using their resolutions to drive big transformations in their lives. Seeing their success inspires me to try to at least name something concrete that I can work on in 2023.
So for this New Year, I will work on tuning into that inner ringing so that I may hone my listening skills. This will, of course, mean tuning out the outer noise a bit more. But really focusing on hearing my gut needs and trusting myself to know when I am doing things that are healthy for me and when I am ignoring that memo. When do I feel unwell in the space of an interaction or in a particular social situation? When is something not sitting well with me? Conversely, when is it feeling right? When am I feeling nourished and cared for?
I’ve talked about some of my best SUPs, or “set-ups for success,” and I’ve shared my emotional coping strategies. For this New Year transition, I’d like to discuss how I will fine-tune my tuning process. When I sense that I’m stewing in a bad feeling or experiencing fight or flight, I will know that it’s time to listen. When I have tried to channel “positive vibes only” and I’m just getting negative vibes reverberating in my core, I will know it’s time to listen. When I am deciding whether to ignore a wrongdoing or step in to change it, I will know it’s time to listen. Follow me on social media in the coming year to hear more…
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