A couple weeks ago I was traveling for work…again. Rundown, anxious, exhausted, wanting to body-check every single person waiting in line for the TSA. I was dreading getting on this plane and flying across the country. It felt too overwhelming, too stressful, frankly, it felt like too much. I was OVER IT.
I decided on a whim to try and practice some mindfulness and I found myself inspired to write the following:
“There is nothing more rewarding than finding complete and utter solace from the insanity that is an airport. I found an isolated bench near a small bakery with literally no one else sitting down and it was as if I had stepped into another world. A world without PA announcements and fighting for the end seat with your tired traveling counterparts, no conversations being held inappropriately loudly, and the ability to stop, take a breath, and realize that you made it past the first hurdle that is the glamour of business travel.
I meditated in the middle of Dulles. I rested my gaze on a doorknob and that doorknob became the center of my universe and focus. It was…surprisingly calming. And the act itself felt reassuring like my body and mind knew what to do. I certainly didn’t care that I was that person sitting cross-legged, palms open, breathing deeply in the middle of an airport. I felt present and”
I don’t know what happened that caused me to stop in the middle of my thought process. I have looked at my “notes” several times and tried to figure out the end of that sentence, but I can’t.
And I realize this: I had a fleeting moment of mindfulness but that moment allowed me to reset the tone for the rest of my trip. It was a small and unplanned moment. But, every time I looked back on my notes, I remember the serenity I felt–not the words I wanted to finish writing but the feeling. And THAT, my friends, is mindfulness.
And this:
Climbing The Mountain of Mindfulness 