Mindfulness

Oh, and I also tried doing this technique I learned in my psychology class. It's called mindfulness and it involved immersing oneself completely into the present. I was practicing this while in the waiting room at the counselor's office and I have to admit, it was a bit of a mind-bending experience. Being one who zones out a lot or gets lost into her thoughts, I tried to immerse myself into the present and my mind started to do funny things. The floor was carpeted in the waiting room and as I was staring at it, trying to concentrate, it seemed as if it came up to meet me. Now I don't mean that it rose up from its upholstered state and was suddenly closer to me. It just seemed to...pop. I looked at a table in the hall and it did the same thing. It popped. The table suddenly looked more three-dimensional instead of just a flat object in space. It was quietly amazing. The experience was like looking at one of those 3-D puzzles--the one where you cross your eyes and something is supposed to "pop" out at you. Those never worked for me, but apparently, being mindful did. I tried it a few more times throughout the day and I realized how quiet the world seemed to me. I knew this was because I often kept a running commentary in my head about all that was going on around me. I might do this because I'm a writer and I like to spend time describing my world. When I quieted my thoughts, however, I realized there was a lot of the world I was missing. Birds singing. The wind whistling through a quiet street. I even tried being mindful in the shower (this meant no singing) and realized how much my bathroom fan sounded like a rusty propeller buzzing out its mundane existence. It was mind-boggling to me how such a small technique had such a big impact.

I think I'll try this again.