Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about about my struggles with learning and trying to meditate. I use the metaphor of trying to remain calm while moving in high speed traffic. Well, yesterday I put my metaphor to the test and meditated while in traffic.
“Amazing!”, you are thinking that in a month’s time I can find the calm and patience to meditate while driving in my truck as it moves through traffic and not crash the truck. Even more impressive, I did all of this in the east bound lane of I-70.
The truth is the truck nor any of the hundreds of vehicles in front of or behind us were moving. My, wife, two of my cousins and I were stuck in an all too typical standstill due to a wreck ahead of us. This was no fender bender that could be cleared in a few minutes. An eighteen-wheeler had left the road and crashed upside down on the lanes below a mere quarter of a mile in front of us.
This particular section of I-70 runs through Glenwood Canyon on the Western Slope and is a marvel of engineering. The west bound lands sit forty to fifty feet above the east bound lands, which traverse along the Colorado River. The truck driver while navigation a turn had lost control of his vehicle and sent the truck through the guard rail where it had flipped and landed upside down on the east bound lands. Amazingly, no one included the driver were killed.
I didn’t take me long after moving to Colorado to learn that if you spend anytime driving in the mountains you make sure to carry supplies to get you through these type of lengthy sits in traffic. Whether it’s snow, rock slides, forest fires or careless drivers, at some point you will find yourself camped on the side of the road. This means an emergency kit is always carried in your vehicle. Blankets for cold weather, extra water, food and charging cables for phones are all a must. On our way to do a hike we were well stocked to wait this one out.
As cars squeezed to the side to allow emergency vehicles through, it was obvious that we were in for a long wait. Already word had trickled down the line that there was an eighteen-wheeler overturned and it was going to be at least four hours before we were moving.
The wife and cousins entertained themselves with a round of selfies and silly videos before they decided to follow the stream of drivers and passengers walking down the highway to check out the carnage up ahead.
I chose to stay with truck. I was frustrated and disappointed that we would not make it to our destination just down the road to do the hike to Hanging Lake. The phrase, “close but no cigar” applies here.
Playing games on my phone and scroll through my list of books in iBooks was doing little to relieve my frustration. My thumb paused above a book, Meditation for Fidgety People, that I had recently downloaded. The book is about the author Dan Harris’s journey of discovering the power of meditation. A few pages in I realized that instead of reading about someone else meditating maybe I should give it a try in a real world moment. Being frustrated with something out of my control was the perfect optortunity to practice the practice.
Pushing my seat back I folded my long legs underneath me and got situated for a go at something until this point I had only tried in the quiet privacy of my home. I opted to leave my sunglasses and hat on as I was self conscious of the other motorist walking back and forth.
Eyes closed. Deep breathes. Focusing on the breath. Were people staring at me as they walked by? A quick one eyed peak revealed that no one was. A bit more relaxed. Mind wandering. Bring it back. Stop judging yourself. Focus on the breath
Sounds. The Colorado River gurgles by a hundred feet from the highway. The rumble of idling diesel engines. Bits and pieces of conversations float by. Attention to the breath. In. Out. A dog barks. Back to the breath. In. Out.
Ten minutes or has it been twenty?
Eyes open. Nothing has changed except my attitude. The traffic is still unmoved. The sun is warm and shinning on my face. One last deep breath.
This is equanimity.
It’s starting to click.
Bikes Kill Cancer 