Mindless

August 18, 2014

Greetings from a clean slate,

Recently, a writer I enjoy has been writing about mindfulness.  He describes the benefit of reducing mental ‘chatter’ so that we can concentrate on the present, to fully appreciate the experiences in the world around us.  He describes it as being in our heads less and being in the moment more. 

It is not an original philosophy but I admire this thinking, and as simple as the concept is, it is also challenging in practice.   I found myself trying it on for size this week with almost laughable results.

Without making too much of it, I will describe my thinking environment recently as being a tad chaotic.  Large blocks of brainpower being devoured by demanding, complex ideas.  The simplest way to describe it is to say that my thinking has been wholly purposeful, not a lot of idle cogitation.  And that, even though it may not be flattering to say so, is not my nature.

In the midst of considering mindfulness I realized what I was missing was its cousin; mindlessness.

I’m not being silly, although that would help.  There is something in living a balanced life that our mind demands that I am occasionally guilty of ignoring.  It is nothing.  The absence of everything.

I realized last night that a piece of the balance I was missing was the parts of my week where I could be immersed in mindlessness.  Where I could become consumed by some activity that occupies me long enough for my brain to shift into neutral. 

It is tricky to try to do it on purpose.  As soon as you make mindlessness a thing to do, it becomes one of the items on the list you are trying to expunge.  I have found that it is best to find an activity prolonged enough to allow your mind to be preoccupied with a simple focus.  Long enough for you to start whistling a nameless tune.  Maybe polishing your car.  Mowing the lawn.  Cleaning the gutters. 

There are other pieces that have to fall in place too.  Other demands and distractions must be set aside and the pressure of time limits has to be minimized. You can see right away why in a busy life this might be a difficult practice.  But without it the busyness devours us.

Mindlessness provides the respite my mind needs to clear away the distracting details that keep me from thinking clearly.  And, strangely enough, it provides a clean white space for creative ideas to appear.  It is opening a place for solutions to evolve unbidden.

When I approach my workbench with a project in mind, and it so crowded with tools and things to be fixed that there is no room to begin, I feel as though I am defeated before I start.  I have to summon the patience to clear the place I want to work so that I can be present, be mindful, of what it is that is in front of me.

It is the same with the cobbled landscape of my mind.  There have been times when I could sit idly and daydream and be relaxed enough for the spring in my head to uncoil a bit.  But more often I must take steps to build this feeling into my day.

We all have ways of approaching mindlessness.  Walking the dog.  Doodling.  Cooking dinner.  Going for a run.  Raking the yard.  Unplugging long enough to do any of these things without the temptation of the ‘busy’ luring you back from the peace you are building.

Life can be demanding.  We have stuff piling up around us that conspires to sap the joy out of our day.  We have to be demanding back.  It’s up to us to figure out the best way to function in the melee and keep a balance, to create our own happiness every day. 

Each of us has our own way of getting there.  For me, on some days, it will be wipe the slate clean of all the brilliance and blather and then let things slowly sift back in so I can really look at them.

Hope this finds you in the moment,

David

Copyright © 2014 David Smith