Meditation In A Parked Car

I had the sweetest minute of bliss the other day. 
It wasn't chocolate or a few minutes of extra sleep. No, it happened when I pulled into a parking space at my least favorite grocery store in town. 

I had been running around for hours spending money on things I didn't want to spend money on. I was irritated. Instead of a grocery list in hand, I had a long list of disappointments in my head.

I turned off the car and just sat there. I didn't want to move. People were walking around in the parking lot doing their own thing. I didn't care. I gave no thought to anything. I sat with the radio and engine off. Time stopped. I stopped. The mental rushing around stopped. I noticed how my body felt: tired. I noticing my breath: it had been the first time that I paid any attention to it that day. 

In that moment, intuitively, I needed to just BE.
Sitting, existing, in silence, observing nothing and everything.  

That one minute was worth a month of therapy, a good nights sleep, or a pat on the back from a supportive friend. 

The daily act of meditation can be transformative spiritually, physically, and emotionally. You can actually retrain your brain to spiritually crave meditation. 

The benefit of daily practice is my 'conscious awareness muscle' is developing; I know when I'm 'off' sooner than later. Often, something unexplainable (maybe it's consciousness, maybe it's God?) gently nudges me to meditation. 

I don't get hung up on how long to meditate. Science has shown that meditating for 20-minutes 2x a day is optimal. I'm lazy. I only do 20-minutes once a day; I'd be an unhappy crazy person if I didn't. But even if I only mediated for 1-minute or 5-minutes (and I have) it's beneficial. Breath, stillness, awareness is all you need to meditate. It's the ultimate mobile device. 

After formal meditation is over, I try to do my best to live mindfully (using my 5 senses in the present moment). Some days Mindful Living is a walk-in-the park (literally, a walk in the park). Other days, poof, the day is over and I missed it because I was stuck in my head ruminating. 


But the other day, sitting in the grocery parking lot, feeling depleted and mildly depressed, after 1- minute, I knew everything was going to be alright. Nothing was wrong in THAT moment (except what I was believing in my head). I had everything I needed in that one moment of stillness. That 1-minute of BEING still, got me out of my head. The Here and Now enveloped me. Like I said, it was bliss. 

1-minute Parked Car Meditation: Try it, you may like it.