“Just sit”, the late meditation teacher Michael Stone used to say. “Just sit, once a day, every day. That is all it takes”. But what if there are early morning flights? I am not good at sitting at 4.30 am. And what if when I get home and sit, the cats sit all over me – or alternatively break into mutiny on the other side of the door? What if, when I finally sit, I almost fall asleep? There are days when just sitting is fine. And then there are those other kind of days.

Thank goodness for the Headspace app. I now just sit in the airplane, unbothered by announcements. And I just sit in the solitude of my office, before that last teleconference or before leaving. Not because I could not sit without a mobile app. But because it reminds me with a little quote at any random time. And because it is a guiding voice when just sitting in silence does not work. And for those moments when there is no ocean or mountain lake in the vicinity.

(Photo from Morskie Oko lake, Poland; summer 2015)