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Did you ever say you were going to sit quietly and try, quite earnestly, to center your thoughts, focus your concentration, calm your ramblings, musings, and wandering notions? ( Believe it or not, I do this quite often) (No, really, though I understand your disbelief at such a preposterous suggestion) Whenever I try however, it always seems I end up thinking about 101 different things rather than enjoying a soothing, gentle, unhurried moment (or twenty). I end up spending half my time telling myself to be quiet and the other half of the time wondering about what is going to happen in an hour, during the afternoon, what I’m going to make for supper, if I bought enough cat food for the week, try to determine when I’m going to fit in time to finish the next installment of Dark Fey, attempt to remember if I turned off the light in the dining room before I left the house, remind myself that a car payment is due, and try not to think about my rumbling tummy that is empty because I rushed out the door in the morning before eating something and was too distracted to remember to grab a protein bar or a yogurt for lunch.

Meditation is not my strong suit, to be sure. After all, for someone who lives, breathes, eats, sleeps, thinks, dreams, and paints words like the ocean heaves and sighs, perpetually, upon the shore, trying to quiet all the words rushing around in my mind is never, ever ever an easy or simple proposition. (as this post, I hope, more clearly illustrate) It can be frustrating, however, when the manic mania that tends to be our daily lives, starts to eat away at my sanity; chipping away at the peace I like to carry around with me like a warm, soft blanket to soothe my nerves and steady my attention when work tries to eat me alive or the morning commute has far too many drivers in it who are more interested in their phone than the road.

We do lead frenetic lives, most of the time. Most of my friends have schedules that are packed and planned out for weeks in advance, bursting with one activity after another, special events, mundane appointments, children’s sports, dance, band, chorus, and school related comings and goings, work, family, maybe friends, car repairs, trips to the gym, to the spa, to the salon, book clubs, happy hours, shopping, coffee-shop stopping (sorry the rhymes just happen!), YADDA YADDA YADDA! We charge around like frenzied bumblebees, rushing hither and thither in restless haste ( to coin Dicken’s immortal phrase), cramming as much into our days (and sometimes far into our nights) (myself included since its nearing midnight and I’m sitting here typing when, in all honesty, I ought to be sleeping) as we can possible force 24 hours to hold.

Which leads me to the (long-awaited, no doubt) query: Why? What Purpose does this Mania really serve? Does it improve our Happiness, lower our stress levels? Does it add a sense of accomplishment and meaning to our lives? Does it do anything to develop the relationships we have with people about whom we care and love? Does it Bring us Peace? Hope? Joy?

Maybe.

Maybe Not.

Thus, I am trying to learn the fine art of meditation. A hushed moment (or twenty) in which I do nothing except breathe and try, with all my might, to still the mania of my thoughts so I may be quiet.

Breathe

Slow

Gently

Know

Love

Peace

Joy

Flow

Only

Breathe

Slow

Deep

Ever

Linger

Serenity

Keep

Only

Breathe

Sweet

Free

Quietly

See

Touching

Tranquility

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~Morgan~
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Beautiful Photograph found on Pinterest. Credit Gratefully Acknowledged to the Original Photographer. Thank You~