Question #2

After establishing that I am happy.  I have moved on to the second question.  This one was easy to answer as well.  But finding the way to change the answer in my life will be a challenge.
2.  How often do I take time for stillness?
Um, never.  Stillness is weird.  I can almost be physically quiet, but I cannot quiet my brain.  As soon as I get close, I start a to do list or worse, replay an old argument and come up with new and more clever comebacks.  Stillness eludes me. 
I know the importance of being still, of letting my brain relax and my soul rejuvenate.  I know that it does not require a darkened room with incense burning.  I do not have to be in a robe with a Buddha statute in the garden.  I know that the quiet has to come from within.  But there are song lyrics on a loop in my brain and when it gets remotely quiet Abba or Meatloaf or The Proclaimers step in to fill the silence.
I now challenge myself to find the quiet.  That seems counterproductive.  I will probably search my brain for the synonym of challenge that doesn't seem quite so forceful the first time I try to find quiet.  Then I will get pissed that I can't think of a better word to have used and will end up throwing the entire stillness project out the window and will put on headphones and listen to some Billy Joel. 
No, I want to, maybe even need to find that stillness.  Ironically, as with the first question, stillness did come frequently in the hospital room.  In a space such as that, a mind can go anywhere and it was very important to me that I didn't let it go anywhere.  My mind had to stay in the present. 
This is not my first article on stillness.  Some articles have suggested a special place.  So I cleared the extra blankets off my chair in my bedroom so that I could be still there.  It didn't take long before I was found out by the cats and they interrupted my stillness with purrs and kneading.  Other articles have suggested letting the stillness come wherever I am.  That approach generally resulted in a nap.  All articles have suggested that stillness or quiet or mind rest really does make a person healthier and more at ease with the trials of life.  I want that. 
So here I go again. 
I will remove all cats, dogs, husbands, children and cell phones.  I will keep the lights low so my eyes will not wander to unwashed clothes, dusty ceiling fans, or cats, dogs, husbands, children and cell phones.  I will not play hokey massage music because that makes me have to pee.  I will be okay in the silence and find my quiet there. 
Here goes nothing...
Whoa Whoa Whoa My Waterloo...