Day 9

Very cool happening tonight in the Geitner/Ford household. The four of us were apres-dinner doing our own things: I am fighting a cold and was sitting in a pile of paperwork sorting on the floor; kids were in various states of getting ready for bed, talking up their tiredness; Ben was finishing up a book. Tonight's meditation could easily have been skipped because of apathy, tiredness, not feeling well, bedtime -- you name it. But I hit play anyways, right in the middle of typically average, busy evening. I didn't wait around for anything approximating perfect timing. I just called it. And once Oprah started talking the energy of the room -- and we -- kind of gelled into this single stream kind of thing. We never hear much of what Oprah has to say, same goes for Deepak some evenings (no offense) but by the time the little bell rings us into silence we're ready to collectively enjoy our quiet home. Which means quieter bodies. Eventually. 

It took about 3 or 4 minutes to settle, realize, and fall into our new habit -- but when it happened (and maybe even when it was happening) I could feel it. My experience was that we went from disparate, self-absorbed people into the new-found (and quite easily come by, I'm realizing) comfort of unified focus and quiet, together-in-end-of-day silence. It struck me (again!) that there isn't often an ideal time, optimal conditions, or a cohesive affirmation that dictates the pauses in our lives. Someone is usually just awesome enough to midwife a pause in.

So in the spirit of birthing new ideas, awareness, and gratitude for this experiment in our home, I am getting more and more comfortable serving up "the pause". Really wonderful how inviting in peace, stillness, a change of focus from independent, busy, distracted, chores, etc. can so quickly make like a cohesive field. Perhaps I'm stuck on "intention" here -- but so loving the practicality, elegance, simplicity, of this concept. I think, too, that "intention/attention" is a graspable concept and nice intersection between parents and children.