Earplugs and Enlightenment: A Rider's Guide to Mental Peace

The hum of motorcycle engines, the rushing sound of the wind, and that high-pitched ringing that lingers after long rides—these sounds define our experiences as riders. But what happens when we actively quiet this noise? What clarity emerges when we protect ourselves not just from physical sound, but from mental distractions as well?

After years of riding without adequate ear protection and developing tinnitus, I've discovered something unexpected: wearing quality earplugs doesn't diminish my riding experience—it transforms it. I'm more observant, less fatigued, and see the world around me with newfound clarity. This revelation sparked a deeper question: could we experience similar benefits by reducing the noise that clutters our minds?

We're bombarded daily by an endless stream of information—24-hour news cycles, social media feeds brimming with outrage, work stressors, and constant notifications from every device we own. This mental cacophony is like riding without protection down the highway at 70 mph—a deafening roar that leaves us exhausted and disconnected from what truly matters. "Doom scrolling" triggers chemical reactions that make us crave more negative information while simultaneously draining our emotional reserves.

Our motorcycles offer the perfect antidote—they're freedom machines that naturally guide us into mindfulness. When riding, we instinctively filter out the world's chatter and focus on the present moment: the feel of the bike, the beauty of our surroundings, the subtle cues from our bodies and machines. This state of focused awareness is perhaps the greatest gift of motorcycling.

Challenge yourself this week: spend more time on your motorcycle, identify one source of noise in your life, and consciously limit your exposure to it. Create space for silence and joy. You might be surprised by what you hear when the noise finally quiets—perhaps the voice of your true self, your kind and gentle self who happens to ride a motorcycle.

Episode Transcript

Ron (00:02):
As motorcycle riders, we're well familiar with the constant
hum of our world.
That sound of the engine, therush of the wind passing through
our helmets, even thehigh-pitched ringing that some
of us hear after a long ride, orin my case, a lot of years
riding without good enough earprotection.
Yeah, that's me.

(00:24):
But what if we take a moment tolisten more carefully to those
noises?
Today, we're talking about thenoise, both physical and mental,
that we can't always control,but how quieting the noise as
best we can, both from the seatof a motorcycle and in our

(00:46):
everyday lives, quieting thechaos, can help us see the road,
physical and emotional, muchmore clearly.
And maybe we can even managethose distractions.

(01:08):
Maybe we can manage thestresses in our lives in a whole
new way.
Let's talk about it.
Thank you for joining me today.
Are you ready?

(01:39):
Let's go! As I sit here todaywith my headphones on, in front

(02:01):
of a microphone, in a relativelyquiet room, I hear noises.
Or I hear a noise.
When it's extra quiet, I hearthat noise.
Yeah, that's strange.
And some of you know exactlywhat I'm talking about.
From what I understand, it'stinnitus.
It's this constant ringing inyour ears.

(02:21):
Sometimes I notice it more thanothers, but especially when
it's quiet.
Yeah, in my younger days, uh, Iwent to a few concerts and they
were quite loud.
The loudest, as I recall, wasprobably Michael Jackson when my
wife and I were still dating.
Uh, we saw him in Dallas.
It was a fantastic concert, ofcourse.
And but I remember we walkedaway from the arena with our

(02:44):
other friends and we couldn'thear a thing, other than
probably the last note thatMichael and his band played.
So do I regret going toconcerts like that?
Not at all.
I'm so glad I got to seeMichael Jackson.
And it was so wonderful to bewith a Swedish blonde who I
eventually married.
So all went well.

(03:04):
But I'm fairly certain itwasn't those loud concerts that
have left me with this ringingin my ears.
No, it's the hundreds ofliterally hundreds of thousands
of miles I've put on motorcyclesin my lifetime.
Now, granted, I've seldom hadany bikes that were very loud.
I had a probably the loudestone was a two-stroke CR250 Honda

(03:27):
uh motocross bike.
It's fairly loud, but I didn'tride that a whole lot.
It was no, it was most likelythe other bikes that I had that
I and still have that I put somany miles on, and I just didn't
wear earplugs for the longesttime.
But now I do on a regularbasis.
And what I found wearing thesegood quality earplugs on my

(03:48):
motorcycle rides is I'mexperiencing like a whole new
level of awareness.
I'm so much more observant,it's weird.
I've always paid attention forsafety's sake, and I've always
been watching for other driversand animals and rocks in the
road and you know everythingelse.

(04:09):
But now with good qualityearplugs, I'm seeing things in a
whole different way.
And I can't explain why.
But for example, I'm findingmyself even less tired too.
How is it that less sound makesme less tired?
It's so strange, but I'm lovingit.

(04:31):
So I just wonder, what wouldour lives be like today if there
were other noises that we couldtake out of our lives?
Noises like the 24-hour newscycle, noises like work stress,

(04:53):
real or imagined, some noisesbeing easy to eliminate and
others are more difficult.
But would the world lookdifferent?
Would it feel more beautiful ifwe had less noise in our ears
and less noise in our mind?
What if we could use virtualearplugs, shut out the noise,

(05:20):
and just experience quiet?
We live in a world that justconstantly bombards us with

(05:44):
information.
Much of it negative.
Have you ever heard of doomscrolling?
Apparently, it's the effect ofthe chemicals of both stress and
adrenaline that kick in in ourbrains when we see or hear
something that's shocking.
Whether it's good news or it'soften bad news, it's that
chemical reaction that kicks inwhere our body wants to

(06:05):
experience oftentimes more andmore and more.
Yeah, doom scrolling.
That makes sense.
The 24-hour news cycle, socialmedia feeds brimming with
outrage and comparison, theendless notifications, the

(06:25):
pinging from every device thatwe own.
Maybe it's like riding withoutearplugs, without a helmet,
without any wind deflection atall, down the highway at 70
miles per hour, a constant,deafening roar that leaves us
feeling exhausted, anxious, anddisconnected from what really

(06:48):
matters.
Just as we use earplugs to havea more quiet, more focused
writing experience, I think weneed to intentionally create
buffers against the daily delugeof negativity.
Well, let's start with thenews.

(07:19):
Now, I'm not saying that weshould bury our heads in the
sand, of course not, but beinginformed about some things is
important, and about otherthings it's really not.
There's a huge differencebetween being informed and being
inundated.
I don't think emotionally thatwe're built for that.

(07:39):
I'm not built for that.
Do we really need to consumeevery breaking story, every dire
prediction, every conflict,every single hour of the day?
So just this week I was workingin Dallas, flew home the other
night.
My Uber driver slowed on theway to the airport to drive past

(08:00):
what was several news stationvans that were parked on the
side of the road.
And I asked the driver what wasgoing on, and he said, Oh,
those are news reporters.
It was there at that buildingwhere someone with a gun
attacked the ice facility thatwas there.
Maybe you've heard about itthis past week.
Wow.

(08:20):
News reporters waiting to puton the air the next shocking
development, which of course wasimportant, but it would hit the
news like within seconds, ifnot live.
More bad news.
So, what can we do about it?

(08:41):
We can control what disturbinginformation goes into our ears
and through our eyes, can't we?
Surely we can.
It's like choosing your routeon your next motorcycle ride.
You wouldn't intentionally rideinto a perpetual traffic jam if
there was a scenic, quieterback road available, would you?

(09:02):
Yet, many of us,metaphorically, ride directly
into the worst of the newscycle.
Then we wonder why we feel sodrained, so exhausted.
Well, here's a solution,something that you can try.

(09:23):
Do we forget that we've got amotorcycle in the garage?
Our freedom machine, somethingthat takes us out of our real
world and maybe into a more realworld, out into Mother Nature,
just sitting on a machine,enjoying the wind, enjoying the

(09:47):
destination, no matter whereit's taking us.
Just a time when all feelsright in the world, and we find
that all elusive peace of mind.
It happens naturally.

(10:22):
We begin to ignore the endlesschatter of the world and focus
just on the road ahead andeverything that's around us.
The feel of the bike, thebeauty of the landscape, the
smells.
We learn to listen to thesubtle cues of our machine and

(10:44):
our body.
That's mindfulness in motion.
And I think it's a tremendousgift that we are given as
motorcycle riders.
Applying this to our lives,wow.
What are we making space forwhen we turn down the volume of

(11:05):
this external noise?
Well, as for me, I'm learningto turn down the noise in my
life because it frees me and mytime to do what I really love to
do.
I love to ride my motorcycle.

(11:26):
It's probably never the casethat I'm going out for a ride
hoping to come back discouraged,distracted, or depressed.
No, I'm going because that timeon my bike is my time.
It's my space.
And it's for nothing else butto be enjoyed.
So this week, that's my hopefor you.

(11:48):
I want to challenge you.
Spend more time this week outon your motorcycle.
Going somewhere or goingnowhere.
Just go.
Find both your real and yourmetaphoric earplugs.
Identify one source of noise inyour life.
Maybe it's the news, maybe it'ssocial media, maybe it's
something else entirely.

(12:10):
But consciously limit thatexposure or just get rid of it
for a while if you can.
Experiment with that and seewhat happens when you create a
little bit of extra space ofsilence and joy just riding your
motorcycle.
So what do you hear now?

(12:32):
Are you having some newthoughts?
Some new feelings arise thatyou didn't know were there
before?
Well, my guess is that you'llstart to hear a little bit more
about your true self.
Your kind and gentle self whohappens to ride a motorcycle.

(12:55):
So, my friends, thank you somuch for listening, as always,
and I wish you peace, and I wishyou love.