Early August, I noticed on my car rides to work that I was continuously changing radio stations, not satisfied with any of the music playing. Occasionally a song would come on that I'd jam to (90s-00s hip hop, Carly Rae Jepson, Beibs As Long As You Love Me- judge me not), but for the most part, I was never satisfied. One day, I was so fed up that I did the unthinkable.. I turned off the radio. I've done it before for lent (gave up listening to music) but that was years ago. This seemed different. It was a quiet ride home but I realized I wasn't annoyed. Score one for me!
Jump to the following week- it's two weeks until move-in day, and the Chaplains Office is offering RA Orientations. Rabbi Daveen begins talking about the meditation sessions offered on Wednesdays and I'm intrigued. I've come to think of my silent car rides as something similar to meditation. Calming.
Last week, I challenged myself (I'm all about challenges) to take a break from all the noise, and just listen. Granted I was on day 2 or 3 of no music in the car, and my tv hadn't been turned on since the weekend but this time I wanted to be intentional about it. I was intentionally lessening all the excess noise and chatter that clouded my mind. I had/have enough going on from a day to day basis, why add more? Especially when it annoys and frustrates me?
So now I'm on week two. It's been an interesting. A couple times this week, on the last five minutes of the drive, I'll turn on the radio to see what's on and it's still the same thing. Me flipping through stations. So off it goes. I suppose I could put in my ipod, but even that's used rarely. When I run, I go solo. No ipod. No headphones. It's safer that way.. but it makes me listen to my breathing, take notice of my surroundings. I feel like my senses are on overload because for once.. I'm not closing myself off to the outside world. I'm allowing every part of me to really listen to every part of me.
This is my meditation.
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