solitude

i have never meditated before. truth is i tried. i don't think i could ever concentrate sitting on a pillow with my eyes closed. if i start in that position, it's highly likely that i would end up laying on it with my eyes closed and...drool. with life being so hectic, i thought the only way i could get some calmness and peace of mind is by meditation. well, meditation didn't work. like smoking weed. once i tried in college; but it (or i) didn't go anywhere because i didn't know how to inhale :). for sometime, i thought i couldn't meditate because i had add. bicycling showed me that i didn't have add. i discovered that i was actually mediating while my legs churning the cranks, fingers flipping the shifters, eyes looking intently ahead, senses alerted and relaxed ... body parts in sync, automatic, harmonious, happy.

"i usually favor riding with nhan simply because we started out biking together and we have our own thing going-- there's a certain comfort and sentimentality in that...di said in a recent blog. 

indeed, while riding, di and i usually lost in our own thoughts even if we were checking out the scenery, looking at the people, commenting on the animals, tasting the breeze, watchful of the distant black clouds and aware of our bodily needs (euphemism for a bio break). to us, it was never the destination. it truly was the journey - the ride. we never raced anyone nor do we want to. though we do get bored if the road is too flat. however, we climbed hills so we can get to the view at the top and a chance to crank hard, lifting butts off the seat, giving them much-needed relief...:). on the bike, i have came close to wonderful solitude.  i feel like a kid again, happy.

paulo coelho wrote: "solitude is not the absence of company, but the moment when our soul is free to speak to us and help us decide what to do with our life. therefore, blessed are those who do not fear solitude, who are not afraid of their own company, who are not always desperately looking for something to do, something to amuse themselves with, something to judge. 

if you are never alone, you cannot know yourself. and if you do not know yourself, you will begin to fear the void. but that void does not exist. a vast world lies hidden in our soul, so new, so powerful, its strength intact, waiting to be discovered. just as love is the divine condition so solitude is the human condition. to understand the miracle of life, one must allow for those two states to peacefully exist..." 

 

namaste!

"the Spirit within me salutes the Spirit in you"