Meditation

I stay almost 20 kms away from work. I commute through office bus everyday. It takes me 1 hour to reach office in the morning and 1 and half hours to reach back home due to considerably increased traffic during peak hours in the evening. Many people have suggested me that I should move near office so that I can avoid spending 2 and half hours every day in the bus. But I have my own reasons why I stay this far. Some of them being, the place where I stay is pretty neat, clean, the locality is quite developed with multiple shopping malls, restaurants etc. Nice place to hang out. The people in whose house I am staying as paying guest are really nice, I get good food here and many more. Recently I found one more reason to stay this far and that is "Meditation". Sounds weird isn't it? Hear me out. Meditation does not always mean closing your eyes and chanting a mantra. There are other kinds of meditation too. I usually spend most of the commute time in reading books or on a call or listening music. Nowadays I have come up with one more way of spending time: meditating on things which bother me. It could be work related stress or family problems, personal problems, could be anything. 

We are lucky enough to travel in a comfortable AC bus, which is not crowded. I sit in the last seat of the bus, so no one can see me, which makes me comfortable. If my mind is troubled, I just sit there look outside the window and thoughts automatically keep coming to my mind one after the other. And I make sure that I feel as bad as possible for whatever I am experiencing. I argue with people in my mind, I think of all the reasons why I am right and they are wrong.Once I am done with all this self boasting, my mind calms down and slowly I start to realise that if I go ahead and start an argument with that person or if I do certain thing which affects another person, what will be the consequence? And every single time, the consequences are bad or harsh. Then I think of an alternative, what if I do not react or react in a certain way. And every single time, this gives a possibility of positive consequence. By the time I reach my house, all the trouble in my mind would have settled down and I feel so much at peace with myself. The next day, when I face the people or situation which caused stress and panic in me, I feel so much at ease and peaceful.

 In this fast moving world, no one has even 10 minutes time to keep aside for themselves. Even when people are in bus, i have seen them checking their phones all the time, or being on call. It's ok to do all that. But it should not be the only thing you do. We need  time to analyse and we need time to understand, so that we grow as humans. No one around us is doing this contemplation. At least if we make an effort, we can make our lives much easier and worthy of living..