Tom Petty says that the waiting is the hardest part and I do believe that he may be right. since childhood I have been waiting for the people in charge to respond to the terrible state that their decisions have made for us. I have waited for a chance to speak my mind and be heard as if I were valid. I have waited to see qualitative change in the way we do business, teach our children and create the energy to which we have become so accustomed. Rather than seeing any meaningful change in any of these areas, I have seen progressively more vehement actions causing more and more heinous results, heard increasingly vitriolic rhetoric and heard increasingly stupid claims that lead to disharmony, misunderstanding and more and more poorly crafted lies from those who are supposedly our leaders as to why we must do the wrong thing, or why the future should be saddled with unimaginable debt. The true costs of a dead ocean or two, a climate crisis, or empty water supplies is something we are just going to have to wait to calculate.
Otis Redding has popularized a tune called, Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay, which points to the fact that we often do quite a lot whilst waiting. In fact, rather than just sitting on our behinds reading popular magazines, as often occurs in waiting rooms, there is plenty of more important stuff to pay attention to. Regular readers understand that I am a nearly constant voice for the environment, a thorn in the sides of those who would exploit either man or nature to extract wealth by foisting suffering on others, but for anyone who has just begun to read my posts, let me lay it straight. Ninety-nine out of a hundred times that we find ourselves waiting, there are still important tasks that can be done. Sometimes just watching the clouds roll away is enough.
Some things to do when you are waiting may include, but are not limited to, taking "selfies", striking up conversation with strangers (realizing that all of our friends started out as strangers), thinking, letting our minds wander, clarifying our thoughts or just focusing on our breathing. One could jot down memos or poetry (but that would require keeping a notebook and writing device at the ready or our phones for the technologically literate), thoughtfully reflect on a recent event or appreciate the abundance of NOW.
When we have moments to reflect, or plan, sometimes the best thing we can choose to do is dive deeply into our own stillness. Finding a place within our selves, where no moorings are needed, getting in touch with that true self, the one that endures through, perhaps, lifetimes that can be the best use of our suspended times, those normally filled with waiting.
Imagine having the good fortune to meet everyone, who normally "is" or would be perturbed, angered or tired of their waiting instead in the liberated state of self-awareness brought about by becoming better friends with their own true self or nature. Say that the waiting room had a door or window to the outdoors and they could just bear witness to a moment of natural beauty, with no desire for past or future. Say that within the person's mind's eye, they could create a vision of nature in their minds and reflect on the beauty and harmony that lives there every moment of every day. Just feel the groundswell of good works and positive vibrations that would create upon the face of Mother Earth. She would rejoice in the lightened loads that we would each carry. Remember, if you are in the waiting room of life, do not pick up the magazines. They are only distraction techniques and we need you to be present to create the coming revolution. Stand, or sit, still and tall. Make even the moments of suspension "count".
We have all witnesses the flighty or the overbooked, seen folks who think that they can multi-task, or been rebuked by someone who thought that we were stifling their schedule. In my understanding, being on-task is something quite different than doing several things poorly. If you cannot stifle your urge to get everything "done", immediately, how can you ever hope to do any of it well? The time it takes for the iron to heat is as important as striking it at the right time and angle. They say, "Strike while the iron is hot." but somehow the waiting is often overlooked. Imagine for a moment that the times we wait are often not the result of anything we have control over, they are not the result of someone's fiendish plan to usurp our progress, they just come with the territory. If we delve into who we really are during those times, when time allows us to come out the other side we will be infinitely better able to cope than if we had spent that time shirking someone that will be with us forever.
Otis Redding has popularized a tune called, Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay, which points to the fact that we often do quite a lot whilst waiting. In fact, rather than just sitting on our behinds reading popular magazines, as often occurs in waiting rooms, there is plenty of more important stuff to pay attention to. Regular readers understand that I am a nearly constant voice for the environment, a thorn in the sides of those who would exploit either man or nature to extract wealth by foisting suffering on others, but for anyone who has just begun to read my posts, let me lay it straight. Ninety-nine out of a hundred times that we find ourselves waiting, there are still important tasks that can be done. Sometimes just watching the clouds roll away is enough.
Some things to do when you are waiting may include, but are not limited to, taking "selfies", striking up conversation with strangers (realizing that all of our friends started out as strangers), thinking, letting our minds wander, clarifying our thoughts or just focusing on our breathing. One could jot down memos or poetry (but that would require keeping a notebook and writing device at the ready or our phones for the technologically literate), thoughtfully reflect on a recent event or appreciate the abundance of NOW.
When we have moments to reflect, or plan, sometimes the best thing we can choose to do is dive deeply into our own stillness. Finding a place within our selves, where no moorings are needed, getting in touch with that true self, the one that endures through, perhaps, lifetimes that can be the best use of our suspended times, those normally filled with waiting.
Imagine having the good fortune to meet everyone, who normally "is" or would be perturbed, angered or tired of their waiting instead in the liberated state of self-awareness brought about by becoming better friends with their own true self or nature. Say that the waiting room had a door or window to the outdoors and they could just bear witness to a moment of natural beauty, with no desire for past or future. Say that within the person's mind's eye, they could create a vision of nature in their minds and reflect on the beauty and harmony that lives there every moment of every day. Just feel the groundswell of good works and positive vibrations that would create upon the face of Mother Earth. She would rejoice in the lightened loads that we would each carry. Remember, if you are in the waiting room of life, do not pick up the magazines. They are only distraction techniques and we need you to be present to create the coming revolution. Stand, or sit, still and tall. Make even the moments of suspension "count".
We have all witnesses the flighty or the overbooked, seen folks who think that they can multi-task, or been rebuked by someone who thought that we were stifling their schedule. In my understanding, being on-task is something quite different than doing several things poorly. If you cannot stifle your urge to get everything "done", immediately, how can you ever hope to do any of it well? The time it takes for the iron to heat is as important as striking it at the right time and angle. They say, "Strike while the iron is hot." but somehow the waiting is often overlooked. Imagine for a moment that the times we wait are often not the result of anything we have control over, they are not the result of someone's fiendish plan to usurp our progress, they just come with the territory. If we delve into who we really are during those times, when time allows us to come out the other side we will be infinitely better able to cope than if we had spent that time shirking someone that will be with us forever.
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