Road Trips as Mindfulness

I recently read a really simple definition of mindfulness: the purposeful paying of attention to the here and now, without judgment.

Ahhhhhhh. Did you hook into that, even for just a second? Feel your soul slow down and breathe a little deeper?

Or did you think, "yeah, ok, I know mindfulness is supposed to be great for you, but it's not my idea of fun to spend 20 minutes sitting around on a cushion, knees aching, everything itching. Besides, my brain never switches off!"

I may well do a post about on sitting mediation – what's truly important about it, and what is extra fuss you can (and probably should) happily ignore. But that's for another day.

For now – OK, you have no interest in sitting meditation. No problem. There are loads of other ways to get into that mindset.

Enter the road trip.

Sure, sometimes travel is for a particular purpose – business, a family visit, dropping the kid off at college. But one of our favorite things to do on a weekend is to pick a natural site - a park, a lake, a mountain - google a little to get some idea of what's there and what we might see, and then just go.

When we get there, we don't usually do a lot of structure. Mostly we do whatever we like for as long as we like it. Tired of slogging through the sand? Let's sit on the driftwood log and watch the shorebirds scuttle for a while. Ready to move on from that? OK, let's go out to the lighthouse at the end of the jetty!

Even on the drive there, there's a lovely lack of structured purpose. For a change, we are not "driven", not calculating, anticipating, preparing or even bracing for the next thing on the agenda.

The break this provides from that ongoing intensity is a huge part of why we make it a point to get out as often as we can. It's the modern life equivalent of grabbing that all-important quick breath while swimming before you take your next stroke. It's necessary. No one can simply keep going, all the time. No matter how wonderful things in your life may be (never mind if they're not quite so rosy all the time!), you. need. a. break. We all do.

So when we get in the car – usually having packed too much stuff and gotten ourselves more worked up than necessary in the process – we breathe. We let go of the notion that we're "on", or even that we are somewhere. We just drive. We're on our way. On our way to someplace else – doesn't really matter much where.

That space in between, between here and there, between now and then – it reminds me of the space between the in-breath and the out-breath. Not an easy moment to spot, but you know it exists – at some point, your breath pauses, changes direction and starts inhaling instead of exhaling. That briefest of moments is somehow a tiny glimpse between worlds, between day and night, light and dark. It's a sweet pause. It's fabulous, and I think even a bit magical.

And road trips are fabulous – who doesn't love a good road trip? I'm convinced that that pause, that breath-space is part of why. Because as much as we've swallowed the Kool-Aid that what's important is to be on the move, doing things, being busy, busier, busiest – deep down we still all need to change frequencies from time to time. In fact, as often as possible.

So the next time you're feeling a little stuck, or stale, or restless, try taking your evening and picking a nearby park you've never been to. Or take the weekend and head to the ocean. Or just start driving into the country, who knows where? Watch for birds and other critters as you travel (this is mostly for you passengers, not the drivers!), notice changes in the countryside – the vegetation, the contours of the land, the architecture of the houses and other buildings. Pull over and stop if you see something intriguing, and check it out. Just go.

And breathe.