Musings on Muffled

Living gratefully today, I noticed the moon in the morning sky and then paused for the sunrise too. Both keep me in a humble place of receiving.

The word muffled is on my mind, and in my ears, today. I have hearing issues and also earwax issues. At least the earwax issues have fixes that can help. They require some patience though. In the meantime, I wake up some mornings with muffled hearing.

Muffled: not loud because of being obstructed in some way; muted.  

Muffled hearing is a real lesson in many things. Listening and proximity are always key, but especially when you can't hear well. Taking the time to move closer to a sound or the person speaking first seemed like an inconvenience, a reminder of my fragility. It became a deeper tuning in, an opportunity to use my other senses to help me out more.

Muffled: not loud because of being obstructed in some way; muted.  

What else has been muffled in my life, over my lifetime?  Plenty. Alcohol was an obstruction. Emotional inhibitions got in my way. Expectations and judgment not only clouded my view, they muted the goodness within and around me.

I realize there are times I was straining to hear a source that wasn't genuine. I struggled to listen, not knowing how to clear the clutter. Even muffled and muted though, the beauty of Nature, of recovery, of loving relationships, all helped bring me along to this point. This point where I am hearing better, even if my ears aren't.