Today I drove home from St. George. It was beautiful. Clear roads, sunny skies and lots to think about. I was the only one in the car so I had control of what I listened to on the radio and what I played through the earbuds of my iPod.
Of all the things I listened to, listening to my own thoughts was the most interesting and surprising thing to me. When I started my trip I found myself jumping around from thought to thought like someone with ADD changing the stations of the radio. And to make matters worse my thoughts were really static-y. The noise of my own brain inspired me to try an exercise of “quieting the mind” that I read about last year, just before I embarked upon my mission to be happy. I won’t go into the details here, but the basic concept is to think nothing. Nothing!! Who’s good at this? Tibetan Monks? Thinking nothing is harder than you think. Of course I had the advantage of a four hour rising-highway-on-the-horizon-in-cruise-control pose which a lot of yoga instructors don’t teach- (safety concerns, obviously)-but I made the most of my position and found results.
Little by little the clutter drifted away, the static vanished and I had a moment of clarity. I listened to hear what it might teach me. What profound M2B:) revelation I might receive? There were no distractions. Just an inner voice, whispering from the most intimate part of my soul, giving me this happy thought:
You know, if you had satellite radio you’d be able to hear the NCAA basketball games all the way home.
3 Comments
BAHhahahahaha!!!!!!!!! I was so not expecting that!!!!
Actually, I have found that listening to the radio cuts down my creativity. The shower is where the ideas come, because all distractions are cut out. I used to be able to imagine things when I drove, but once the radio goes on, that part of me shuts off, and doesn’t come back on again for hours. So joke if you will, sir. But your point is well taken.
I’ve tried this but I can’t get my thoughts to shut up! No surprise there………
I’ll keep trying.