I love listening to loud music while I drive too! There's something cleansing about that combination. I've also been known to park in an empty lot and listen to loud music and just scream.
I like to try to follow the water down a waterfall and inevitably lose it and start over. I could get lost in that for hours and it's a good mental reset.
Thank you for the timely and beautiful reminder; sorry it's tough at the moment. Music, nature, cuddle with our kitten, these tiny moments help me replenish and reconnect.
I love this! This poem takes no mud, no lotus to another level. I hope your mind and body find ease soon, in the meantime, thank you for this great reminder.
Fellow traveler here. I turn on my white noise machine to a gentle rainfall and take deep breaths to clear the squirrels running around in my head. I also disconnect for a couple days, which I was about to do when I saw your post. Know that you are not alone. Happy recharge and reset. I’ll catch up in a few!
I'm having a "too many things, going crazy, ahhhhAAAhhh" type of week as well - I suspect December can just be like that, what with holiday obligations - so this is a lovely reminder.
My method, which I don't do often enough, is to make myself sit (or stand) in a spot where I'm looking at something in nature, even just a cluster of bushes in my backyard. No phone, no earbuds, no notebook, just me and the bushes. At first the irritation and restlessness rises, gets even worse than it was when I was trying to Accomplish Things. But that's part of the process. I have to ride that part out. Because eventually those feelings give up on trying to get my attention and subside, and then comes the good part: the expansion. The clarity. The calm ideas. It's like my worldview opens out from the narrow, stressful Accomplish The Things mindset to a bigger and more chill perspective that takes in all the beauty and other life around me, all of which is getting along just fine without my Accomplishing Things. And that helps me relax, and even helps me come up with good plans and new ideas.
I think people who try meditation and declare they "can't do it" because their mind "won't stop" are never allowing themselves to get past that first restless phase. They feel the restlessness rising, they freak out, and they stop and decide their mind is not fit for meditation. Not so, friends! This is how everyone's mind works. (Also, no living person's thoughts ever stop. That isn't actually the goal of meditation. It's to *notice* the thoughts and let them float by.) Please don't worry; holding still won't break you. Ride it out. There's good stuff on the other side.
I love all of this! Yeah, I think the hard part of meditation is often the understanding that the mind wandering is part of the meditation. Having the patience to keep redirecting until you can focus on nothing longer and longer is tough barrier to break.
I used to love playing Pooh sticks - I once lived where they held the annual international Pooh sticks competition! I prefer your idea, though. I cannot think of anything more calming. May your peace return soon.
We all need this reminder. Yours is infinitely more beautiful, I reset with music as loud as I can bear it, driving. It has saved me. Strength 💙
I've been known to use that trick, too. And this is one of my favorite playlists to do it with: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0z5MOHiAtH314dtuwJsMxL?si=ec8ac1f84c424905
I could drive highways with that..
Great playlist!
I love listening to loud music while I drive too! There's something cleansing about that combination. I've also been known to park in an empty lot and listen to loud music and just scream.
Whoa, that takes up to a samurai level of mental cleansing!
It works. I know it
Btw I got distracted yesterday before I could tell you I loved your piece - and so did my grandson. (Both kids love what you do.)
Thank you!
All batteries everywhere need recharged.
For sure!
I like to try to follow the water down a waterfall and inevitably lose it and start over. I could get lost in that for hours and it's a good mental reset.
That's a lovely way to just practice being
Thank you for the timely and beautiful reminder; sorry it's tough at the moment. Music, nature, cuddle with our kitten, these tiny moments help me replenish and reconnect.
My little dog Loki is also a good way to recharge!
Power napping and aimless ambling in the out of doors are also worthy techniques.
Yes! Often, when I'm cross I'm actually hungry, tired, or dehydrated (or all three)
I love this! This poem takes no mud, no lotus to another level. I hope your mind and body find ease soon, in the meantime, thank you for this great reminder.
Thanks for the deep reading and spotting that no mud no lotus influence!
Fellow traveler here. I turn on my white noise machine to a gentle rainfall and take deep breaths to clear the squirrels running around in my head. I also disconnect for a couple days, which I was about to do when I saw your post. Know that you are not alone. Happy recharge and reset. I’ll catch up in a few!
Thank you! Yes, I need to get better about dropping out every once in a while. It's good to know that I'm not alone.
Very good. If you mix "the seat of the divine" you get sublime, which is also good.
Yes! Sublime, that's something I need to focus on finding more of.
I'm having a "too many things, going crazy, ahhhhAAAhhh" type of week as well - I suspect December can just be like that, what with holiday obligations - so this is a lovely reminder.
My method, which I don't do often enough, is to make myself sit (or stand) in a spot where I'm looking at something in nature, even just a cluster of bushes in my backyard. No phone, no earbuds, no notebook, just me and the bushes. At first the irritation and restlessness rises, gets even worse than it was when I was trying to Accomplish Things. But that's part of the process. I have to ride that part out. Because eventually those feelings give up on trying to get my attention and subside, and then comes the good part: the expansion. The clarity. The calm ideas. It's like my worldview opens out from the narrow, stressful Accomplish The Things mindset to a bigger and more chill perspective that takes in all the beauty and other life around me, all of which is getting along just fine without my Accomplishing Things. And that helps me relax, and even helps me come up with good plans and new ideas.
I think people who try meditation and declare they "can't do it" because their mind "won't stop" are never allowing themselves to get past that first restless phase. They feel the restlessness rising, they freak out, and they stop and decide their mind is not fit for meditation. Not so, friends! This is how everyone's mind works. (Also, no living person's thoughts ever stop. That isn't actually the goal of meditation. It's to *notice* the thoughts and let them float by.) Please don't worry; holding still won't break you. Ride it out. There's good stuff on the other side.
I love all of this! Yeah, I think the hard part of meditation is often the understanding that the mind wandering is part of the meditation. Having the patience to keep redirecting until you can focus on nothing longer and longer is tough barrier to break.
Nice one. And I like the art!
Thank you!
I used to love playing Pooh sticks - I once lived where they held the annual international Pooh sticks competition! I prefer your idea, though. I cannot think of anything more calming. May your peace return soon.
What? I now have a new life goal! International Pooh sticks competition bound! Thank you!
Excellent! See you there? https://poohsticks.uk/ 😁
Your post brought a moment of peace to my day, Jason. It was much needed and I thank you. May some of that peace circle right back around to you. ⭕️ 🌿
Thank you, Ann!
Gotta recharge those batteries whenever you can. Be the lotus, be the river, be the poem.
I love the idea of being the poem!
Great wisdom here, borrowed from so many before. Let it sink deep into what you need for yourself in this moment...🧡
Thanks, Brian!
Rest and ambling - two favorite sports. Oh yeah, coffee with a friend too 🫶🏼
Coffee and friends are pretty great!