No more waiting.

I was at the opthalmologist’s office yesterday for about 2 ½ hours. It went like this:

• Check in, waiting room 1, wait.
• Exam room 1, nurse’s questions, exam room 2, wait.
• Doctor vision check, wait.
• Eye drops, waiting room 2, wait.
• More eye drops, wait.
• Doctor visit, done.

During the second waiting period, as I watched my foot twitch and realized I was in the process of nervously disassembling the doctor’s eye model, it dawned on me – I could practice a modified meditation to make the wait times positive & productive, rather than frustrating.

So during each subsequent lag between busywork, I sat in the chair, lowered & softened my gaze, relaxed my muscles, and practiced keeping my attention on my breath.

My usual pattern with such long waits (I’m generally not a patient person) is to tap or swing my foot incessantly, blindly leaf through magazines, and formulate in my head the imaginary cranky letters I’ll write to the office, explaining why MY time is valuable as theirs. But meditation took the edge off. Although I’m not sure I was ever fully in my breath, distracted as I was by kids, intercom calls, and general medical office mayhem, focusing on my breath, even in little snippets, allowed me to relax and appreciate – even look forward to the time. It wasn’t waiting any more – it was practice.

(pictures: things left on the offering shrine near the Great Stupa, Shambhala Mountain Center)