Get Out of Jail Free

Of all the skills I possess, and there are many, meditating is not among them. I hear it's quite good at achieving Nirvana and being at One With God. That would be nice, but all I'm really hoping for is to break out of the prison of my dependency on prescription drugs I take to control my sometimes alarmingly high blood pressure. To that end I have been reading books on the subject, and last week I created a "meditation room," tucked away from the rest of the house and complete with a statue of a tubby Buddha, a candle, some lovely art on the walls, a timer and a comfortable seat. All that's left is for me to get in there and stop thinking.

The whole thing is a bit frightening since whenever I'm completely alone with my thoughts, without the distraction of meowing cats, dastardly weather or the chatter of TV news, I usually feel more anxious, not less. But the experts say that is to be expected and one must work to get past that initial phase. If I make it, one reward will be the ability to escape the horrors of the world at no charge, instead of paying for a brief respite.

Example: For an upcoming trip to New York, I searched online for tickets to a Broadway show for myself, my husband and another couple we are meeting there. I was stunned to find that the bottom price of a ticket for one person, to occupy one seat for two hours on a Sunday afternoon, and not even what you would call a great seat, for a musical that has already been running for several years, is a whopping $169.00! Do the math for four people and you'll see that for the same money one of us could fly to Europe and bring back souvenirs for the others. So naturally I am excited to go sit in my little meditation closet for free and still "get away from it all."