So I work in an office. In a cubicle, lined up perfectly with other cubicles. Some people refer to this as a “cube farm”. I work in building with four floors, with the top three floors all having the same concept of being solid enough to hold up rows and rows and rows and rows of cubes.

If you’ve never worked in an office before,  here’s a picture of a cube farm. Yours may vary slightly.

See the color of those cubes? What color is that? I’ve wondered for 15 years now. They’re always the same color. If any of you manufacture these things, can you please tell me what the CMYK color code is? Beige? Gray? Brown? Tan?

Maybe you are lucky enough to work in your own office.  Ah, an office! With a window! And a potted plant! And your own coffee pot!

Maybe you work out of your home. Then I pray you don’t have a cube. Unless you design cubes for a living, then I could see you having one. But if you design cubes and you have one, you would very quickly realize that this is not a very good design if you want someone to be sane.

Maybe you’re a hair stylist, and you have a station. I’ll bet you have a mirror and a very big one. And scissors. I bet you’re never having to hunt down a pair of scissors.

Maybe you’re a sales person. Maybe you visit other people’s cubes.  Or offices. I hope you only have to visit offices so you can keep your sanity. I’ll bet you spend a lot of time in your car.

Maybe you’re a mom. So you have small humans. They have needs. Wherever you go, you’re a mom. Mom momomomom I want a cookie!!!!

Regardless of your job title, most people have at least something they do day after day. They repeat it. Over and over again. Some people go to the same place even. Some people get to vary their location slightly by visiting clients and driving to different locations. Some people work different job sites where they swing a hammer or hang or paint things.

Where does your mind go to work? What does your mind do while you’re doing your job? If you say, well I think about what I’m doing and I have very complicated things to think about, well, that’s one place. But eventually, you get a break. In between customers. In between projects. In between phone calls. At some point during the day, there is a moment when you are not talking to someone, writing about something important, being nagged to get a cookie for someone.

See, when you’re in your cube or doing whatever it is you do, you just “keep pushing”.  We sit or stand or run in our normal, repetitive environments, and keep pushing our minds down the same tracks.  We make well-worn groves in our minds that “when I am in this physical space my mind must work”. So the only thing hard about “finding time to meditate at my job” isn’t so much about finding the time. You have time – at least eight hours! The hard part is jumping out of that grove and stopping. Seeing that there is nothing that will explode immediately if you just stop and feel where you are in the present moment.

At some point during your day, there’s a pause. Maybe when you go to the restroom. Notice, it’s called a restroom, not a “I have to hurry up and do my bodily functions so I can run off to my next meeting and oh my dog I have no idea what I’m going to say” room. It specifically says “Rest”.  Sometimes that’s the best place to meet up with your mind again. To say “Hey! I recognize you! I’ve seen you around!” It’s been my favorite place to meditate for years.

Your mind will try to tell you that you have to *finish*, you have to *go*, you have to *do*.  But in the Resting Room, you don’t have to. This is Sacred Space – in a stall.

Go find your Sacred Stall