TASK #36

September 4th--September 11th

Quiet Time

Truth is the safest lie.  Unknown

I don't know about you, but I am never far from the next problem. My mind is always filled with the various and sundry troubles that seem to come at me from every angle and every corner of my life. I try to solve them as they come in, but I usually can't, and they pile up in my head like cord wood and pretty soon I'm running into walls, and nothing's getting resolved.

When I had these problems when I was a kid I would just walk outside and keep walking. We lived in a place where you could do that safely. I would walk and think about every problem I had, one at a time, and come up with a solution--even if it wasn't always the right solution. What I noticed was that sometimes after you get rid of the smaller problems there was a bigger one lying under all the rest, buried in my cranial junk drawer, and when I found it and isolated it, I could deal with it.

Now I understand that the problems I had as a kid were pretty simple, and usually involved homeworks, girls or parents, not necessarily in that order.

As I grew older, and my worries became more serious, more nuanced, more deeply felt, and facing them more difficult. So I had to walk farther, dig deeper and be more honest with myself.

This was my meditation. My midwest meditation. I still practice this form of self-analysis. I walk and think and try to list my problems and concoct a solution...

TASK:

To try a bit of midwestern meditation.
--Find yourself a free hour.
--Find a quiet place to walk. Don't worry if you go around in circles. It's not about how far you go, or what the scenery is.
--Focus on the minutia of the life around you. The way the wind blows the leaves, the rustling of the grass, the sound of your steps.
--Then start ruminating about your problems. One at a time. When you isolate WHAT bothers you, question WHY it bothers you. Try to come up with a solution. Be honest. YOu never have to lie to yourself...Then move onto another problem.

Questions or comments? joedoebula@gmail.com