Mindfulness in The Spare Moments

Mindfulness in The Spare Moments
​Molly Dahl, M. Ed., CiPP

Don’t squander your down time. These days, it seems like many of us are 
running on tired. We’re exhausted. We’re short on time. Our sleep isn’t 
what we would like it to be. We have few precious moments when there is 
nothing to do and nowhere to go.

When you do have a few spare moments – the doctor is running a bit 
behind and you have to wait in the reception room, or you’re so far back 
in the line of traffic at the red light that you get to sit through two 
of them, or your child is late coming out of school and your car’s 
idling at the curb with you waiting for your kid – consider yourself 
blessed. You have empty time!

As tempting as it is, leave your phone alone. Don’t worry about what you 
think you’re missing on social media. Turn the radio off. Put away 
distractions.

Look out the window. See the sky, the trees, the sunlight. Nature 
rejuvenates us. Let the silence spread through you and nourish you. When 
you get lucky enough to have a few minutes of down time, come down – 
emotionally, mentally, physically. Be still. In stillness you are 
refreshed. In the hush of free time, you are revived.

Silence is to the soul what water is to the body.

Allow the silence. Drink it in. Luxuriate in your 5 minutes of forced 
waiting in line. There’s nowhere else to go and there’s nothing else to 
do.
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