排队的隐藏乐趣

IN the past I noticed that if I closed my eyes I would almost immediately go to a peaceful place. I would listen to white noise or nature depending on where I was. I had learned transcendental meditation years ago and the idea is to let thoughts come and go and after a while there was just a kind of void and then peace

I love this! So many chances to send silent blessings or verbal affirmation to others while waiting. My favorite opportunities are the post office line, the grocery line, and the traffic "long red light" line. My most challenging opportunities are the dreaded "on hold" lines; am still working on my attitude there....

My sweet husband, a Unity minister and observer of all things beautiful, crossed over in January. As I go back through his lessons, I am reminded often of how many times he used the example of standing in line in his lessons. He would say, "We always have a choice," and would advise students to use the time to remember that everyone in the store is a child of God and reflect on that and smile. When it was just the two of us standing in line, he would whisper in my ear, "This is a great opportunity for the two of us to be together." He also said the same thing when we waited in the car, either in heavy traffic, or while waiting for the light to change. These thoughts would usually bring me back to center. His wisdom was deep and profound, so now I listen for it in my quiet time, and when I have ears to hear, I hear. Now he is teaching and learning in the realms of higher consciousness. Remember, he says, you are a child of God, precious and whole at all times.

I find waiting in line a great time to practice saying my mantram. Time just disappears.

PS. In the Before Times I sometimes would get out small bottles of bubbles and start blowing them while waiting in line at grocery store or doctors office waiting rooms and I would share lil bottles with people around me♡
Here's to the Japanese concept of Ma♡

So much Yes to the value of idle time waiting and being present to the surroundings rather than glued to a screen in one's hand.
So many Human face to face moments can then unfold and ripple♡

Having a longer than usual wait this morning I whipped out my phone and read this nice article, as a start, planning to move on to reading some other posts. I'll go for ma instead for now.

I've had some great conversations with 'strangers' while standing in line; wonderful stories of about their life, family, holidays...

While waiting in line for the bathroom, my granddaughter organized a reading group for her preschool friends who were waiting with her. Now, she reads them a story while they're waiting!

I spend a lot of time at home, alone, so waiting in line gives me an opportunity to interact with others -- whether they want to or not :o) I end up talking to friendly people and have a good time "in line" (not the point of the article) but I remember one particularly long wait (10 mins?) and some people were getting testy. I remember saying to the woman I was speaking to, but I said it loudly, "In the grand scheme of things, if this is the worst thing that happens to us today, we are doing pretty well . . . Think about it. Some people have babies with cancer." And many people smiled at me and nodded, yes.

Bravo! Here's to BEING! Enjoyed the tips, thank you. A bit of perspective too, though we feel like we wait a lot in the US, if one has traveled to anywhere in the developing world or even to other cultures where time is viewed differently, we hardly wait at all here. :)