Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Doing Nothing is Hard

My most challenging challenge to date disguises itself as a simple, totally doable activity: Sit. Be silent. Do nothing. For fifteen minutes.

But the fact that I must do this first thing in the morning (before I shower/walk Dagmar/check email/sing good morning from the rooftops) is proving problematic. First of all, I have just woken up. And I am not a good waker-upper. To sit in silence and stillness when my eyes are still half-closed just tricks them into thinking we are going back to sleep. It looks a lot like this:




I wear a tie when meditating, too.

Secondly, one can never truly experience silence in Manhattan. Us non-millionaires anyway. The few times that I have maybe achieved some sort of meditative state lasts for about five seconds before some cab starts honking or a truck hits a pothole or some crazy on the street starts yelling about how someone stole his jello.

I will keep working on this challenge, and I am confident that by the end of my 29th year I will have figured out a way to make the most of it. But in the meantime, any suggestions on effective sitting in silence are welcome.

4 comments:

  1. maybe walk around a bit and shout good morning to the city first. then sit. or do some light yoga, perhaps a sun salutation, beforehand.

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  2. ear plugs are crucial, soft ones, at Lowe's. erect posture and light yoga beforehand allows for an awakened mind. let the cab honk, let the truck hit the pot hole, let the crazy in the street yell, give them their freedom to do that. it's all a part of it~ sit

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  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBvrYeFiTRU&feature=digest_thu&playnext=1&list=TLOysdMfVGdZM&force_ap=1

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  4. This will go hand-in-hand with my other challenge of doing yoga three times a week. Thank you folks! It's all working together.

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