Cultivating Mental Silence

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Coffeeshops, conversations, and writing: What I did on Spring break...

Wow…where did theweek go? It seems like just yesterday I was sitting here…in my gazebo…trying tocome to terms with what this Springbreak was going to mean for me. Being able to write daily has been a gift I amreally glad I gave myself. I wrote a blogpost each day…prolific by my recentstandards. And, as I sit here…I cannot help but think that it will be importantto keep this sort of writing up movingforward. Not necessarily writing to post on my blog (which has been fun) asmuch as I think I should figure out a way to write daily for more than the 5 or6 minutes in the mornings before heading to work. Heck…for the past 7 years I"found" time to write nightly while working on my dissertation.Nothing of any significance has taken over that time in the evenings.

 

Forcing myself to goout into the world, hanging out with people who really matter in my life wasalso a nice gift; this act(ion) enabled me to frequent a few coffeeshops tosit, write, converse, and contemplate life. Coffeeshops, conversations, andwriting have been a huge part of my life so it just seemed natural that I wouldend up spending some of my time off (a privilege I am highly aware of) thisweek going to such places and engaging in what brings me closest to an optimalexperience. Monday's blogpost was titled: "Stop! Slow down! Unplug?"I think I can honestly say that all 3 "goals (if you will)" wereaccomplished along with a huge step forward towards a goal I have written aboutat length on this blog, via my pre-order purchase of the Apple Watch earlierthis morning; that being the mindful pursuit of knowing my-self. I alsomentioned in that same post that what has transpired this week will not be asimportant as the way in which I choose to annotate "it." I stillbelieve that and point to these posts as evidence of my attempt to grant myselfworthy of the attention of my own thinking.