Bus Reading

Barring last weekend's failed attempt at bus reading involving a migraine headache and motion sickness, spending three hours or so on a weekend riding a bus circuit has become one of my favorite ways to relax, and to find time to read, think and pray.

So, I thought I'd give some tips on the best way to have a bus reading experience.

• Pick the right length of loop.  Only you can know how long this is.  Mine is about three hours.  
• It must be a loop.  Transferring takes away from the relaxation factor.  You're preparing for the transfer, making the transfer, and then waiting for the end of the route.  The interruptions to the thinking time will not do.
• Make sure, if at all possible, to sit in your favorite seat on the bus.  Mine is on the left side as you're facing the back, the first bench seat in front of the back doors.
• A sunny day is the best.  Or a grey day where the sun somehow manages to poke through.
• A variety of reading materials is essential.  At least two to three options.  You're probably only going to read one, and depending on your speed of reading and your ideal loop length, you're probably going to read almost all of that one, but at least for me, I never know for sure which book it is that's "right" for that day until the loop starts.
• Resist the urge to check email or facebook on the phone.  I check mine once or twice.  I limit it, because I get on the bus so that I'm reading with focus, away from a screen.
• Notice the route.  Put down your book and let the things you're driving past stir you to pray.
• Snacks are necessary.  I recommend chocolate.  Also, a bottle of water.
• A journal and a pen for both the journal and for marking key passages in your book (well, obviously not if it's a library book!) is also helpful
• this is a solitary thing.  I was thinking the other day how much I'd like to share this particular pastime with some dear friends, and realized it wouldn't be the same if it wasn't solitary.  I'd never manage to have a friend there and not be conscious of them and what they're doing, even if we didn't sit together and weren't talking.  The solitary time is what makes it an introvert's dream escape.  There are people around for people watching, but they're mostly quiet, and most won't talk to you.

Mostly though, I think think bus reading has to be personal.  It works for me in a way that sitting in a coffee shop or a library or a bookstore wouldn't.  It has the right mix of people and lack of distraction.  It's a place and a way to spend time that lets me relax and enter into my own heart.  Into my love for words and ideas.  Into praying for the important things and people in my life.  Into dreaming and longing.  And my place to do that on the bus is just that, my place.

I hope each of you has one of those places, too, and I'd love to hear what it is for you.