I am a husband, writer, and teacher exploring what it means to cultivate mental silence.

Mindfulness in the Fart Tube...

Mindfulness in the Fart Tube...On a plane...or the Fart Tube...as it is fondly known as...flying to Seattle...thinking about how we pass our time..."in flight." There are so many options...books, magazines, the newspaper, games on our phone or tablets, music, podcasts...I am sure I am missing a few choices. Within the two rows that I find myself...people are watching videos, reading the newspaper, playing games...I myself am listening to a podcast as I type this blogpost. My reasons for listening to a podcast are as simple as the choices others around me have made...distraction and/or isolation. None of us wants to "be here." And...unless you are traveling with someone you are fond of or uber outgoing...we are inclined not to talk to those around us.Add the fact that plane travel is not the most comfortable...unless you are in 1st class...which I did try to secure but found out that I was 27th on the waiting list...and you realize quickly that having some sort of distraction or desire to isolate yourself from humanity is a must! NOTE: On this flight, I was lucky enough to be in a row where my fellow passenger was at the window, while I was in the aisle seat with no one in the middle. This is a much better situation than having the middle seat taken up (as anyone of you who has ever flown on a plane know)..so I really had no complaints on this leg of the journey. Back to the distractions and isolation.Because we do not want to "be here" we set ourselves up with our preferred distractions to isolate ourselves...take our minds off of that which we loathe...idle "mind time" and/or human interaction.Do the distractions we bring along with us contribute to or inhibit mental silence? Would we all be better off just getting on the plane, sitting down, and being bored?

11 Hours at SEA-TAC...

I am not upset...I promise!