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Wednesday, December 04, 2019

Mindfulness


I have been practising mindfulness for more than a year now using the Calm meditation app. It guides you through ten-minute meditations on a daily basis. The concept is to teach you how to live in the moment and stop your brain from fixating on negative thoughts or memories.

I think it has helped me a bit. It has forced me to take that 10-minute break everyday and at the very least focus on my breathing instead of what I am supposed to be getting done (like figure out what to get my son for Christmas that doesn't involve a $400 virtual reality headset).

As you know (there's that "you" again), I think a great deal about what the brain is creating all the time for me. I struggle with understanding why, if I create my own reality, I can't come up with a better one that doesn't include Trump.

But I digress.

Looking at the photos above, I am mindful that the hair on my head and my beard are almost white. But my eyebrows are still dark brown. Why is that?

I don't think that is technically what mindfulness is supposed to be about. But it does try and teach you not to be judgmental. So I try not to focus on how big my nose and ears look in the photos. Though I did hear on Tik Tok the other day that the nose and ears are the only part of the body that continues to grow as you age. So it must be true (I also Googled it and Dr. Oz confirms it).


Lately I've been doing my 10-minute practise while waiting for the train in the morning. Technically you are not supposed to do it while you are standing, but it's ten minutes that I would be wasting scrolling through Tik Tok if I didn't meditate. It is a challenge though when a freight train goes by while I'm meditating. It is particularly a challenge when it is one of the freight trains loaded with garbage containers. Then I am mindful of the sound and the smell.

I used to meditate during my afternoon break at work. But I found I was struggling not to nod off during the meditation. And you can't control interruptions. I also find it hard to meditate at home on the weekends because the dog and cats don't tend to respect that when I'm sitting in a chair with my eyes closed I'm not open to a dog or cat jumping in my lap.

The Calm app also offers some nice music that you could listen to at night when you are falling asleep. I've used it on red eye flights before and it is quite nice. But it tends to remind me of the New Age music I'd listen to in the late 80s.

Whatever happened to New Age music anyway? And are there now New Age Oldies stations?

I'm digressing quite nicely today.

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