There is a setting in Zoom called “Original Sound.” You can turn it on or off. I first learned about it from my musician friends who were trying to perform music on Zoom and found the results less than satisfactory until they turned on Original Sound. As it turns out, what you’re really doing when you turn on Original Sound is that you are turning off the audio filters that Zoom ordinarily has in place. Those filters are designed to highlight a single voice, and eliminate all of the “distracting” background noises, like doorbells, and barking dogs, and music, to name just a few. But when you want those things, such as when you are trying to have the sound of your guitar come through, you need to turn off the filters so that the “original sound“ can come shining through.

It occurs to me that the same thing is true in life. Many, if not all, of us have sensory filters in place that prevent us from noticing what’s going on around us. Most of those filters have been in place for so long, and have functioned so effectively, that we don’t even notice them. The result being that we miss a great deal of what’s going on around us, and we don’t even know what we’re missing. But when we slow down, and get quiet, and start to pay attention, it is possible to switch off the filters so that we can begin to notice the original sound (or sight, or smell, or taste, or touch). The world is filled with sensory gifts, just waiting for us to notice, and appreciate, and be nourished by. I invite you to find the switch and turn on the “original sound.”