Find the Quiet Within by Pennie Hunt

Settling into seat 8F, I pulled my jacket off and tucked it into my carry-on bag. I would not be needing that in Phoenix. I looked forward to the sunshine and warmth ahead. In went the jacket. Out came my reading glasses, IPad, magazine and headphones.  Headphones! Where are my headphones? 

I always travel with them. They are the noise canceling kind that block the roar of the plane engines, the voices of the passengers visiting, the cries of babies in the back, and the intercom messages from the cockpit. I block these so that I can enjoy the time to read, sleep or meditate in the headphone secluded space of rain falling, ocean waves, or the tweeting of birds; whichever seems to be my pleasure of the moment.

With a sigh, I felt the aggression of the engines lift the plane into the sky as 9F, began to explain to 9E, in his best not-so-quiet voice, why he sold his home in New Jersey and moved to Phoenix.

I realized that for this hour and forty-five-minute flight my headphones were happily next to my meditation chair at home.  Hummppfff!

After reading an article or two in a magazine I laid it to the side, closed my eyes and began breathing. With the deep in and out rhythm my body sensed this as the call to meditate.  To enjoy calm. To go within to the space of quiet where the outer world drops away. Where the deepest thoughts of my soul mix with the messages from the energy both in and out of my body.

​I guard this time of meditation as a mother guards her child. This is more than just a happy place. This is my sacred time. My daily ritual of flowing into calm serenity to a place which is more than one foot here and one foot there, but more like all there. All-in, as they say in Poker, to an out-of-this-body and fully in-peace space.

The engine’s roar became a soothing hum that muffled the voice of 9F. The ping of the pilot's bell seemed to whisper the message of safety that floated by my thoughts of awareness without stopping to take residency in my space of peace. I was there! Not here, not asleep… but there.

Almost an hour passed when my breathing returned to the shallow breath of normality. My eyes fluttered open as my senses returned to the awareness of my surroundings. The engines below my seat continued to spin as the mechanical dropping of the landing gear engaged. 

        "And in Phoenix the homes were a STEAL when I bought it, so from what I cleared on                    my Jersey home, I paid cash for the new one." 

Seat 9F had not stopped the elaboration of his happy relocation to Phoenix.

I realized that I had successfully enjoyed the flight. I enjoyed a time of meditation and for a brief period blocked the outside forces of noise, chaos and distractions. I smiled at the reminder that calm serenity can be accomplished any place. Any time. The noise of the outside doesn't have to detract from this. The outer world we cannot control. It is the quiet within that we search for. It is the quiet within we can find... even without headphones.
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Pennie's Life Lesson: Searching for tranquility does not require a vacuum of silence. Real peace is found within - even during the distraction of life.
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YOUR TURN...        
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