WEVerb11: Breathe

For the month of December, I’ll be participating in #WEverb11. Each day gives a new prompt, each of which is a chance to reflect and look forward.

#14: Breathe.How did you make space + peace for yourself in 2011?


Contributed by Megan [everlastingpresent.com]

The easiest answer of course is yoga.  One odd change I noticed was that I liked quiet time long after yoga.  Usually I listen to audio books in my car.  I don't drive much (my commute to work is exactly 5 miles each way, and my commute to boot camp or my usual running meeting point is less than that), but even for just 10 minutes a day, I'd rather listen to a book than listen to music.  I'm not a musical person in general, but I especially hate the radio.  I don't enjoy talk radio much and the innane commentary on the music stations just makes me angry, and of course I don't like commercials, so I'm not even wild about Pandora.  For some reason, audio books seem to be my favorite listening choice while driving.

But not after yoga.  Instead, I just wanted the silence.  Listening to the woosh of the air (though I don't think I put the top down at all in November), listening to the hum of the engine, the sound of the tires, etc.  And then when I got home to eat dinner alone since hubby couldn't really wait to eat that late, instead of flipping on the tv, which is my usual habit when eating alone, I just wanted to sit quietly.  And when hubby was still awake when I got home and came downstairs to chat, I whispered and wanted him to whisper.  I was definitely attempting to cultivate that inner peace.  It's tough for me.  I feel like I'm not a calm, peaceful person.  Happy, yes, and very at peace with my life, but not calm or peaceful by a long shot.  I feel like I'm always going, thinking, doing.  Even when I'm still, I feel like my mind isn't.

Particularly since I changed jobs this year, which I feel gives me even less quiet time to read blogs, think, be still, I think in general there was less breathing, calmness, stillness, peacefulness in my life this year, apart from the one month of yoga.  But I wouldn't have it any other way, honestly.