Everyone knows about meditating: a quiet room, preferably with nice, polished hardwood floors with a gorgeous, clean oriental rug; soothing music or no sound at all except maybe the birds; guided by a soft, peaceful voice or the soothing words written by any number of people who favor the calm, centered life and will teach us how to live such. I do this. I know this. It does soothe and focus.
But my favorite meditation isn't the usual. It is just about completely opposite from the above description. It doesn't require quiet or an orderly room or restful music. In fact it most often accompanies buzzing around the kitchen on a Saturday morning.
I'm sure you will never, ever guess so I'll tell you. I listen to Car Talk with Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the "Tappet brothers", Click and Clack. First off I must say that I care little about how a car works. Under the hood doesn't interest me. I can't change a tire, and I have never pumped my own gas. I love my Beetle, but I don't know what makes it go. So how can I so love a program which is devoted to car problems? I don't listen to the car troubles which people call in with, or the solutions which the brothers offer. I just listen to the voices. I cannot begin to explain it, but these fellows make me laugh with their laughter, their lame jokes, their back-and-forth banter. They are loud, they laugh loud and often, and they soothe my soul, and calm my busy mind better than any yoga relaxation I've ever done. Maybe the laughter is key. In fact, there is something called Laughter Yoga now.
Whatever it is, if I am near a radio at ten o'clock on a Saturday morning, I spend that hour listening to Car Talk feeling calm and happy.
My parents LOVE that show - they try to get me to listen, but I just don't get the humor ... :)
ReplyDeleteHeather, I don't think it is a generational thing because lots and lots of young people call in to the show. Today's humor - they said how many miles we walk in a year and then how much alcohol we consume in same year, and called it so many miles per gallon. Now, that's pretty corny, maybe, but I found it hilarious. Tom loves the ending credits; very, very witty.
ReplyDeleteI love this show, and I'm Australian! It has come to mean Saturday in this house. I know exactly what you mean about their laughter. It really is contagious, and they laugh so much! And lots of their 'material' is corny, but much more of it isn't. On top of that they're such brilliant car people.
ReplyDeleteI reckon I heard their voices in the movie, Cars, when I was watching it for the nineteenth time with my grandson ...
That's one of my favorites, too! They are hilarious!
ReplyDeleteI don't listen on a regular basis, but on and off over the past 20 years, Rod and I have enjoyed MANY broadcasts of Click & Clack. And just as you said, they are so funny!! They crack me up when they crack each other up. They truly are a marvelous team and I always love it when we stumble upon them while out and about on the weekend. And, yes, those ending credits are very, very witty. Do you own one of their cds? We have one cd and a cassette tape is floating around here somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI love Car Talk too and my car knowledge extends to sometimes getting it right when I fill up with gas tank. If I miss them on Saturday morning, I discovered that I can download the podcast to my ipod and listen while I go for a walk.
ReplyDeleteI find that listening to National Public Radio relaxes me so I can understand what you're saying.-If I wake up and can't sleep-I listen to that crazy supernatural program tha't on the radio in the wee hours of the morning.-Sounds like a fun program.
ReplyDeleteYeah. I agree.
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