Imagine you walk into a room, and the radio is on, only it’s not exactly on the right frequency. What you hear is a lot of static with partial fragments of a song. You know that you are not listening to the song in the way it was initially intended. The static distorts the song. The strange thing is, if you had been in the room for an extended period and the signal slowly became worse over time, perhaps you would not notice it. It would become an irritating hum, background static, a sub-focus you were not even aware you have.
In a workshop I recently attended, we were encouraged to think about the kind of disruptive signals we are receiving. Mind static is a disruption of the signal. It distorts the truth about you. It pulls you into a shadowed place and has you believing things that are not true about yourself or your situation. During this workshop a new awareness of an old story, a disruptive signal, struck me. Even though the static of this old story was very loud I had been unaware of it’s presence or it’s impact on me until that moment. (Thank you to Susan Jacobs and Joie Garrity for running the workshop and for helping me gain this new perspective).
Do you have any of these disruptive signals? You’re not good enough, not intelligent enough, not from the right background, not going to amount to anything, not friendly enough, not strong enough, creative enough, liked enough, don’t have the right qualifications, not (fill in the blank).
You have the volume control. Turn down the static.
Here’s to living with clarity, courage, compassion and confidence!
Beyond the Shadow 
Sometimes turning down the volume is not enough ….. I have to change the station completely when all I hear is the nagging hum of static . 💕❤💕
Thank you for this post Sue ……
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Great point! Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Dear Sue:
This entire post, unflinchingly honest as it is, sent a shiver down my spine, but one line in particular riveted my attention :
“Mind static is a disruption of the signal. It distorts the truth about you. It pulls you into a shadowed place and has you believing things that are not true about yourself or your situation.”
I immediately thought of Turin Turambar, the tragic hero of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Silmarillion.’
Turin Turambar was a deeply flawed man of Middle Earth whose less-than-stellar moral choices carried serious consequences.
Yet this same man did great service to the Middle Earth kingdoms of Doriath and Nargothrond.
In one of The Silmarillion’s hardest-hitting chapters, Turin Turambar comes face to face with Glaurung, the Father of Dragons.
Turin prepares to do battle with Glaurung, who has wreaked incalculable havoc not only in his own life but in the lives of his family and friends.
Allow me to quote Tolkien’s text directly:
“Then Túrin sprang about, and strode against him, and fire was in his eyes, and the edges of Gurthang shone as with flame. But Glaurung withheld his blast, and opened wide his serpent-eyes and gazed upon Túrin. Without fear Túrin looked in those eyes as he raised up his sword; and straightaway he fell under the dreadful spell of the dragon, and was as one turned to stone. Thus long they stood unmoving, silent before the great Doors of Felagund. Then Glaurung spoke again, taunting Túrin. ‘Evil have been all your ways, son of Húrin,’ said he. ‘Thankless fosterling, outlaw, slayer of your friend, thief of love, usurper of Nargothrond, captain foolhardy, and deserter of your kin. As thralls your mother and your sister live in Dor-lómin, in misery and want. You are arrayed as a prince, but they go in rags. For you they yearn, but you care not for that. Glad may your father be to learn that he has such a son: as learn he shall.’ And Túrin being under the spell of Glaurung hearkened to his words, and he saw himself as in a mirror misshapen by malice, and he loathed what he saw.”
—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Children of Húrin, “The Fall of Nargothrond”
Glaurung painted Túrin’s mirror black, didn’t he?
He zeroed in on Túrin’s foibles and mistakes.
He made no mention of the good he had accomplished.
He cleverly inserted grains of truth into his half-lies and outright falsehoods…..
Just enough to make his assertions sound plausible.
And Túrin was undone…..
Just as so many times I have been undone, Sue, by taking to heart the taunts of ‘Glaurung.’
Your laundry list of ‘mind static’ – “not good enough, not intelligent enough, not from the right background, not going to amount to anything, not friendly enough, not strong enough, creative enough, liked enough, don’t have the right qualifications…..” – reads like a play-by-play of the ‘misgivings’ that have greeted me day after day since as far back as I can remember…..
Not just since I retired from Canada Post.
And yes, I am acutely aware that the ‘mind static’ is no mere psychological phenomenon, but rather the taunts of the enemy of our souls.
May I state emphatically that I do NOT enjoy being tyrannized by my own thoughts.
That is why, Sue, your blog ‘Turn Down The Static’ conveys such great hope.
As soon as I read your conclusion – “You have the volume control. Turn down the static.” – I knew that you were right, although ultimately I’ve needed to ask repeatedly for Divine deliverance in turning down that static.
Thank you, Sue, for daring to venture into the darkened recesses of our hearts and minds.
I daresay that deliverance will only dawn in our lives when these recesses are brought into the Light and the hobgoblins that they harbour within are exposed.
Truly should we undertake to heed the counsel of the apostle Paul by “filling [our] minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” (Philippians 4:8)
Man.
This is no trivial matter.
To fall under the spell of Glaurung or NOT to fall under his spell…..
It really is for all the marbles, isn’t it?
Soberly,
PhiL {‘•_•’}
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It is a great compliment that you choose to engage with my words., and good to know that we are not alone in our struggles.
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