Art of Not Listening… Warning signs at Box Mountain
Before an avalanche, there are subtle signals prior to the big warning signs. You hear them and see them. At Box Mountain (aka my office, that I had filled with unsustainable levels of work, as keenly observed by a beloved colleague to left this earth far too soon) there definitely were subtle signals. The signals increased every year indicating that how I was working and even sometimes leading my life were not as sustainable as I anxiously hoped they'd be.
In a real avalanche on an actual mountain you'll first quietly hear funny sounds in the snow of weak layers beneath the surface, collapsing with a “whoomping” sound. Or maybe you’ll see snow blowing into strange layers, into precarious slabs that mountaineers call the “pizza of death”. Then finally, you’ll hear or see massive cracks shooting towards you in the snow.
Just like an avalanche on a real mountain, the first subtle signals of impending doom were there to be heard on Box Mountain before any big signs. If only I would listen.
The subtle signals cropped up one by one as I unlistened to them and unlooked at them. The annual health check-up that wasn’t quite what it should be, ending with “let’s get some more tests and call you back”. Noticing there were more pizza boxes in my recycling bin than I remembered consuming. Realizing I was showing up later and later at the gym, yoga class or anything else that didn’t involve working at my desk.
The one subtle signal I overlooked the most showed up in my relationships. All of a sudden, one year it seemed as if everyone who called or stopped by started our interaction with the same sentence. “I know you’re busy but...”.
I briefly wondered if all these people had met secretly that year and agreed to say this to me, just to make me wonder. Everyone from my cousin to cab drivers to my longtime friends to the cleaning person in my building to the drycleaner sensed I was probably too preoccupied to be present with them. Or maybe even too busy to be fully present with life.
In the next blog, you’ll read about what did make me listen. Fun fact: listening to and looking for signs has brought more joy that I ever could have expected. In fact the photo for this blog is one I created in a media arts course that opened my mind to how I look at things on a daily basis.
When I listen now to the patterns that show up in the work and lives of people (including clients), I sense it's possible to hear sounds of subtle signs like these beneath whatever mountain they may be on themselves.
You might ask yourself now, who or what are you too busy for in your own life?
What patterns do you avoid noticing, or cringe at when you see them?
What do you think will happen if you don’t listen to or look at these signs?