I had a friend once say if my blogs take more than a couple minutes to read, he loses focus. This one is for you.
Isn’t it amazing what we’re capable of?
We become so accustomed to doing things on autopilot while our minds wander that I think we lose sight of the miraculous nature of our minds and bodies.
In meditation being present is often talked about. When you’re doing the dishes – do the dishes. Feel the warm water, see the grime come off, place the plate precisely where you want it.
When you pay attention to how present your mind is during any task, what becomes obvious is how seldom you are ever present in the task at hand.
When I get up from the couch, walk through a living room navigating toys on the floor, walk through a bedroom, find a light switch, and lift a toilet seat – I hardly give a thought to any of those actions.
When I’m at some sort of event and looking through a crowd trying to find my family, my mind is analyzing a million things at once trying to accomplish my goal of finding what I’m looking for.
It’s truly fascinating.
So while it’s important to try to be present in the tasks we engage in, I think it’s also important to have some awe at how amazing our minds and bodies are at completing tasks.
How could this all come together by chance?
When I’m doing the dishes – I’m thinking about people, what I need to do later, what I’m doing a month from now, how my family is doing, how work was yesterday, about basketball practice later, about work tomorrow. I’m never just doing dishes.
And that’s actually amazing.
