Session 3, The Sovereign Mind: Tuning Out Radio Doom and Gloom

"Our mind is filled with noise, and that’s why we can’t hear the call of life, the call of love."

Thich Nhat Hanh has been a major figure in bringing Buddhist mindfulness practices to the West. He wrote in his book Silence, “There’s a radio playing in our head, Radio Station NST: Non-Stop Thinking. Our mind is filled with noise, and that’s why we can’t hear the call of life, the call of love. Our heart is calling us, but we don’t hear. We don’t have the time to listen to our heart.”

Russ Harris would say if we don’t have time to listen to our heart, we won’t act from our values.

Before Nhat Hanh called the chatter in our head Radio Station NST, Russ Harris called it Radio Doom and Gloom. Harris wrote,

Our thinking self is a bit like a radio, constantly playing in the background. Most of the time it’s the Radio Doom and Gloom Show, broadcasting negative stories twenty-four hours a day. It reminds us of pain from the past, warns us of dangers in the future, and gives us regular updates on everything that’s wrong with us, others, life, the universe, and everything. At times, it broadcasts something useful or cheerful, but nowhere near as often as the negative stuff.

We know the consequences of our channel selection: “So if we’re constantly tuned in to this radio, listening to it intently and believing whatever we hear, it’s a sure-fire recipe for stress and misery.”