Sitting and musing

I’ve been writing down my dreams for a couple of years now. It helps me sleep. My dreams used to be exhausting — I was late for a worship service, couldn't find my robe, my music, etc. Or I was with my youth choir on tour, and it was time to get back on the bus, but I couldn’t find the kids to round them up. I would wake up more exhausted than when I went to bed.

Recently my dreams have been more pleasant. We (always “we”) are resting after some work, and eating something or just talking.

Last night I dreamed that we were at a resort, taking a break from some work. I reflected to my companion that as a college student, a bunch of us went to the same resort to help move all the chairs from the dining/meeting room so the floor could be restored. Then we moved the chairs back. Maybe it was a volunteer project, or maybe the resort paid us, I told whoever I was talking to. We sat and mused.

Sitting and musing is what old people do, if they are lucky. Having finished our work, we sit and muse. Our lives become more inner-directed, and in the sunlight of morning or afternoon, we reflect. This is when we can become useful to younger people. We have time to listen, and we have more inner space in which to reflect.

Sitting and musing is pleasant. Very pleasant.

There are plenty of things to do and I do many of them: chores, exercise, shopping, lunches with friends. But I am careful to keep my schedule loose — loose enough to savor each activity.

And to have time to sit. And muse.