I love living in Atlanta. In the 10 years of living here I have seen so much change - and that is the fun of it. I love driving down a road that has been abandoned for years and then - Bam! - all of the sudden an awesome bustling village grows out of the broken concrete. For so long there were little pockets that would go through revitalization but they were like islands - so far apart from one another. Now, the city is filling in all that blank space and I am LOVING it!
One thing that Atlanta is known for is it's trees. Once coined as "The City in a Forest," Atlanta boasts one of the greenest landscapes of any large city. All you need to do is fly into Hartsfield-Jackson during daylight to see that. So, how, in a city among so many trees is it so hard to find silence? The growth has been great for the economy, but I have also seen a huge change in the level of noise in Atlanta. I have found myself needing a fan to cancel out the noise at night and during the day music to silence out all the buses, cars, and trucks. I for one need to have periods of silence. I sometimes have to retreat somewhere and pull myself together. Constantly competing to be heard among the noise gets exhausting. My sister boasts that she could never live here because of how fast paced it is and that is her truth. But as much as I get overwhelmed with all of the "sounds," I sure miss them when they are gone. It is like a sick addiction. I dedicate time to escape from it but once I am gone I find myself missing it!
My favorite retreats are outdoors (which is totally counter-productive) so I have had to improvise... indoors. How is that possible? It is called meditation and it takes some serious practice. Have you ever tried to truly meditate? It is hard. The first dozen times, I could not get my brain to be quiet. I almost felt totally crazy - like yelling at myself to stop thinking! Then a meditation instructor told me that those thoughts are fine. She told me to not fight against them, but let them flow out. Take a deep breath and as you breathe out, envision dark smoke leaving your body - all of the pollution from your thoughts. As you breathe in, envision light. Imagine pure, perfect light entering your body and all of the dark smoke going out.
As I got better at meditating, I would awaken and feel completely revitalized! I also have had some of my greatest spiritual awakenings during these meditations. Writing down what I am feeling and what is being revealed to me during these times has become totally therapeutic. Sometimes I walk out of my room and run to Christian with the answer to all of the world's problems! Ha!
Do you meditate? Have you ever tried? You should! Start slow - 5 minutes here and there.
I plan to have many more conversations about meditating in the future as it is a huge part of these journals and why I created them!
xoxo
Katie
No comments:
Post a Comment