In the decade following 9/11, The United States as a
whole, has become a little more reserved
and hushed as the reality that “anything can happen, at any time.” sinks in one
more time. Everyone had a different
experience and a different reaction based on where they were located and how it
directly affected their lives. Similar
to the day John F. Kennedy was shot, our generation will remember where they were and what
they were doing when they first heard about the attack on the Twin Towers. For me, I was a sophomore in college. I had just finished parking my car in the
university lot. The radio was on and
every channel I turned to was talking, but as always I wasn’t listening.
It wasn’t until I walked into my creative writing
course and saw my five foot nothing blond haired professor crying at her
podium, that I started to listen to what was being said. At the time, cell phones were still fairly
new, and every call was $0.10 per minute, but that day everyone person in that
room was on a call. They were calling
friends, family and anyone they loved ensuring they were okay. Even if they weren’t actually in New York at
the time of disaster, the emotional devastation was felt nationwide. It was the first time, we as Americans,
stopped feeling safe and untouchable and became very aware of our own
mortality.
With our moral compasses leading us to live lives out loud
and with gusto, there comes the awareness to be present. While the idea is to be able to slow your
mind down enough to appreciate every aspect of every situation, the reality is
that if you were only able to accomplish this task even half of the time, your
quality of life would exponentially increase.
Being able to separate the sounds and actions occurring around you,
allows you to remove the emotional attachment from the situation, letting you
experience that moment from different angles you might have missed
otherwise.
The practice of being present begins and ends with a breath,
but the action itself is very mental. It
is a conscience effort of doing things differently and shaking things up a
bit. It can be as simple as drying off
from a shower in the opposite order, paying attention to the happenings as you
walk home, or even driving home a different route than normal. The idea is to break your day to day habits
and really learn to enjoy the adventure of discovering a new way. The moment something becomes a habit, you stop
being aware of it or being mindful of it. By losing the awareness you also lose
the beauty and magic offered in each moment that approaches us. I have a post it on my desk that reads, “Be
where you are. Experience that
piece. Think about something else and
you miss it.”
While I am happy to practice awareness while getting dressed
in the mornings and even on my afternoon walks, I have found my dependency to
SIRI's GPS and in-car navigation isn’t one to be toyed with. Thankfully I’ve found that most new
automobiles are now fully equipped with navigation features allowing me to play
with my drive home, without getting completely lost in the process. The less stressful my drive home can be the
better for everyone inside of my car.
In car navigation features are available pre-installed, or if
you like to change cars often, a portable form such as the Garman Tracker is handy
to have! With annual updates available
for your in-dash GPS at your local dealership, being able to veer off course
now and again just became easier!
Take a look at some of the features available in the Lexus Navigation
packages!
