There are some familiar bells we hear and ring. The bell so many ring at the end of their cancer treatments. The bells rung leading up to Christmas to accept money to help so many throughout out communities. Cyclists ring their bells as they prepare to pass others on the trail.

These are good bells for various reasons, but I wonder, what are the bells that we can’t unring? When do we celebrate the wrong things? When do collect the wrong things for the wrong reasons? When do we race the wrong races or proceed at the wrong pace? When would a pause before reaching for that bell help us? Do we have the discipline to pause for that breath and consider the wisdom before instead of dealing with the consequences after?

I don’t think we’ll all respond with the same answer, but I think each of us, if we’re honest with ourselves, have situations in which we tend to ring the bell and think later instead of pausing before we ring the bell. Maybe we can’t see our own habits, but those bells we wrongly ring are usually heard by people around us. They can often identify the disruptions you might be creating. This is an opportunity to consider which bells should not be rung, because you can’t unring the bell once that sound escapes.

It’s not about us as much as we sometimes think it is. The bells of our lives are not silent.