Today, we had a very atypical January day for Eastern Massachusetts: highs in the mid to upper 50’s and sunny. It was a beautiful day, and as I had a party to go to at a former colleague’s house, I decided to walk there, and then I thought “I haven’t done a meditation in Somerville yet!”
I go through Somerville, and particularly Davis Square, almost every day. The Square is sort of the cool place to go now in the area after Harvard Square got so commercial. There’s a bunch of funky stuff, like the Somerville Theater, Johnny D’s, cool statues, and numerous other places. There are also great statues that everyone thinks about when they think of Davis Square. It’s the most densely populated place in New England, and is the home of Marshmallow Fluff! In 1997, Davis Square was listed by the Utne Reader as one of the fifteen “hippest places to live” in the United States.
It was quite bustling, and there were many people out in shorts and T-shirts (but usually not both, this is January!). It was just nice to have this warm up. I was just happy to be outside on a great day. I tried to be as meditative as I could on a beautiful day, but realized that I needed to just be present and observant when there’s so much action.
So, can you be present when there’s a lot going on? What do you do to help you keep present?