Hiking, Cat Napping, and Meditation

Hornaday River west of Hay Camp, NT 

Many years ago I realized I had the ability to take 'cat naps'. The first memorable experience was while hiking in Wood Buffalo National Park in the summer of 1980.I had been up early carrying an interest in covering ground during the cooler parts of the day. I had finished my early lunch, leaned my back up against a big pine tree and 'passed out', only briefly though.

Since that time there have been other circumstances that have lead to my further experimentation and exploration of this 'ability'. And I only refer to it as an 'ability' because it would seem that this is not something that comes to everyone equally. During my divorce, these short-term 'naps' became critical to my sanity I think.

And only recently has it become apparent to me that some of these and maybe many of them, are not 'naps' at all ~ but fully fledged meditation. Only recently have I been able to become more aware of the concious/unconscious step as opposed to the drifting off to sleep. And it is that ~ that immediacy of disconnecting from reality ~ that is signature to the effectiveness of those cat-naps for me. They occur. They are over. I am refreshed.

Most interesting, from my perspective. Particularly when one is in the process of reading Dying to be me - and has gone further with my view of choices and how they are made. And then I came across this yesterday. Some most appreciated coincidences in connecting the dots.

Osho.com