Quiet. Not even the sound from the fridge. A bus goes by. Quiet.
I take a zip of my herbal tea and a small bite of my tiny chocolate ball, another zip of my tea.
The sky is getting darker. I am waiting for the rain. My puppy is sleeping in the window.
Another bus. Next to me on the couch I have a book.
I want to read but this moment is too precious and I want to enjoy it.
I am sure there are more sounds outside, this is New York after all, but I can’t hear it.
I focus on my breath. Sending thoughts to my left shoulder to help the pain to go away.
Inhale. Exhale.
> This was yesterday afternoon. It was a peaceful moment and I wanted to stay in it. Instead of reading my book, I just continued to drink my tea taking everything in. It didn’t last long though. Soon we had the neighbors twin babies screaming and running in the hallway and Thor woke up and started to bark at them. Outside the window there was a child and mother yelling at each other and I started to hear cars honking. More and more sounds came to my attention.
So to stay in that moment I just had, I wrote down what I had noticed (the text above) and I felt calm again. It felt like I experienced it again. And then I read what I just wrote and I could continue to be in that moment.
A small short moment like this is not something a lot of people let themselves have. Isn’t that weird? We sleep, we eat, we work and maybe we take time to work out but how often do we just sit and notice what is going on around us? Even if it’s just a short moment noticing a bus go by outside the window, it is still important to notice. It’s like a small version of meditation. Being present.
We don’t need to be active all the time. We don’t need to listen to music when it’s quiet. We don’t need to check instagram every time we get bored or have a few minutes over. Instead we need to focus on our breath and fill our bodies with good thoughts. Even if it only lasts for 5 minutes.
Do you have 5 minutes today to focus on your breath?