Today, I’m going to tell you a story about waiting on a line. But before I tell you this story, I wanted to do a little research to find out how many hours the typical American waits in a line.
Americans spend an estimated 37 billion hours waiting in line each year, that’s before the COVID-19 outbreak. Few things unite both Democrats and Republicans as much universal frustration and ire as long queues and lengthy wait times — I even struggle to wait for a sluggish web browser to load.
Back to my Story
Once upon a time, I bought a bike and six days later my bike was stolen at Alewife T Station (no crying for me please).
Today, I decided I would just go and buy a cheap bike at Walmart, my days of buying expensive Italian racing bikes are long over.
I understand, sort of, a line for supermarkets, but a line to get into Walmart to buy a bike?
I was just thinking, I don’t remember waiting in lines so much in my life. Except, maybe when I was in my early 20’s I use to wait in line to get into nightclubs, who would know all those hours to get into a nightclub would come in useful in my 50’s to get into a Walmart.
As I was waiting in line to buy another bike. I was thinking about what would be the best use of my time while waiting on line.
No opportunity is better than while we’re waiting in line, to take a moment to meditate — what if we welcomed these idle, luxuriously long in-between moments as opportunities to simply wait and meditate?
In Japan, there is a concept known as ma, which refers to a gap, pause, or waiting in a line. The Japanese use life’s inevitable waiting periods as moments of ma — ways to utilize our waiting times as useful moments to reflect on our constantly busy life.
Next time you find yourself waiting in line, try making your wait a little more mindful, and see how it makes you feel. Once the twitch of your hand reaching down for your cell phone has stopped, you might actually enjoy a moment of relaxation.
Here are five things to do while you’re waiting that don’t involve mindlessly checking your phone:
- Let someone who’s in a rush cut in front of you.
- Make a mental list of things you’re grateful for.
- Take some deep breaths.
- Silently repeat a mantra for the inner peace.
- Write a blog post.
Getting Back to work in my Boston real estate office
Now that I have my new bike, I’m going to ride it to my Beacon Hill office. Hopefully, when I arrive at my office they’ll be a long line of individuals looking for a Beacon Hill apartment.to rent. If not, I just wait in line to get a slice of pizza from Nino’s on Charles Street.
The following are Beacon Hill apartments with a Reduce Broker Fees. Hurry, so you won’t have to wait in a line
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