Today one of my young students had to spend some time waiting along with others. Everyone else took out their phones and got busy immediately. He just sat there, and occasionally closed his eyes in meditation. Eventually someone noticed and asked him, how can you just sit there? It is impossible for me to just do nothing like that!

Maybe I am a little naive to be surprised. I guess I just hang out with people who are acquainted with stillness. If you had to wait a half hour, would it be easy for you to ‘just sit’? 

I remember when I went backpacking alone across Europe, a very well-traveled friend told me not to take my music along. ‘Don’t listen to music or read something when you have to wait. Just soak the place in’ she had said. And so I did. 

There were times I would sit at train stations waiting 2 hours. Sometimes I’d strike up conversations with nearby strangers, sometimes I’d just sit there. Some of my best memories actually. I realised then that waiting times were the best times for open eye meditation. One of my best meditations was actually as I stood with a friend in the middle of the junction, with peak hour traffic whizzing past in every direction. Both of us just stood there, maybe half an hour, feeling the ‘silence’. 

Can you? Just sit? And if not, would you like to be able to?