Who invented knock knock jokes?

Well whoever they are, they deserve a no bell prize!

I hope you’ll forgive me, dear reader.  Not a great joke I know.

But I was struggling to set the scene for today’s email.

Because today I want to talk about bells.

Yes, bells!

Have you ever thought about how much of our lives are impacted by the jingling of a bell?

At school, when and where we should be is controlled by the harsh clanging of the school bell…

In some jobs, a chiming bell signals it’s time to start and stop…

In the days of house phones, a tinkling bell would mean someone wants to get hold of us…

And a ding-dong from a front door bell operates in pretty much the same way.

Bells are constantly telling us where and when to go.  They grab our time and attention.

And while certain bells may be old hat nowadays, the modern day equivalent is no better.

In fact it’s probably worse!

Buzzes, vibrations, notifications, alerts and newsflashes are the modern day equivalent.  They’re designed to grab our attention, and, once they have, not let go.

And you know what?

You could say exactly the same about our thoughts.

In a funny sort of way, thoughts are very similar to WhatsApp notifications and breaking news alerts.

They’re pretty much constant and they’re very distracting.  Some thoughts can be very distracting indeed.

But all a notification means is that some random bot somewhere has spewed out a mass message to millions of people across the country in an attempt to lure them onto an app or a website, and then capture them once they’re there.

Half an hour later, the same bot springs into action again.

And half an hour again after that.

But just because these notifications keep popping up on your phone doesn’t mean you need to pay attention to them.  It doesn’t mean they have anything serious to say or that they’re worth spending any of your precious time on.

And thoughts are basically the same.

Thoughts aren’t a distress beacon that mean we need to drop everything, pay attention and start acting or worrying.

Instead, thoughts are random, temporary and ever-changing.

Sure, they may appear to be of crucial importance.  Just like phone notifications are designed to appear of crucial importance too.

But it’s a trick.  A mirage.

There’s nothing significant about the fact we have thoughts.

And once we stop taking our thoughts so seriously, things start to feel a bit lighter…

It becomes easier to be more present…

And there's more headspace available for simply living.

What do you think?  Perhaps this rings a bell for you too?

That’s all for today. 

- Tom