Day Twenty-Seven

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So I've got this one professor who teaches that contemplative thought class I'm always talking about. Now, anyone who leads an hour-long class in which you're expected to sit in complete silence for three fourths the time has got to be interesting, so I guess it's no surprise that from day one, this dude intrigued me. But, strangely enough, it had absolutely nothing to do with the things he said to us; it was all about the stuff he didn't say. 

Absolutely everything this guy does is conscious, mindful, and deliberate. This one chick asked him how many pages the final project should be, and he laced his fingers together, nodded for a good thirty seconds, and then, finally, after really, really mulling it over, he answered her. Now, I don't even slightly remember what his answer was (and I probably should check up on that, because A). it's due relatively soon, and B). I'm contradicting my own point here) but I do remember how taken aback this girl was, solely because he'd taken the time to carefully consider her question. Turns out that our world's so filled with half-assed phone-in-hand conversations and robotic how-are-yous that, when you give someone the attention they deserve, it actually catches them off guard. Go figure.

Conclusion: Watch the things you say. Be mindful of the things you do. Take your personal worries and push them out of your head unless they serve an immediate purpose. Otherwise, they've got no business polluting the rest of your time. Stop thinking about what happened yesterday, and stop thinking about the stuff you have to do tomorrow. Instead, focus on the people and things that are right here, right now, right in front of you. Listen to what someone else is saying to you, and make them feel like the words they're trying to express to you are not a wasted effort. We can't change the past, and anticipating the future is as good as pinning one in an infinity of possibilities. So if you really think about it, all we'll ever have is this exact second. 

• Show two people how much they mean to me

(1). Coffee for Sarah. 
(2). Muffin for Reese. 

Help out a stranger

Went into this awesome hippie-stuff shop in town to get sage for [see below] and I ended up starting a conversation with the woman who owns it. We were talking for about ten minutes before I realized that I knew a hell of a lot about the building we were standing in and a hell of a lot about the products she sold, yet I knew virtually nothing about her. I remember reading somewhere--I'm pretty sure it was Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People-- that, for most people, the sweetest sound is the sound of their own name. I asked her what it was. I'll make it a point to remember it. 

• Live instead of sleeping thinking

A Mr. Pattwell texted me earlier and I asked if I wanted to go play a couple games of pool with him, a Mr. Savidge, and a couple of their friends. Opted to go even though A). I had to blow off a date with a certain Geoffrey Chaucer and his vernacular rambling about a bunch of pilgrims, and B). I tend to have the hand-eye coordination of a blind, single-finned trout whilst playing this game. It was fun nonetheless. Kind of seriously needed a break anyway. 

Kindly excuse the fact that this is hands down one of the worst pictures I've ever taken. Turns out it's kind of hard to hit balls when there's a camera on the table. 

• Do something good for myself, by myself

Craft time. Ahhhh yeah. 

• Write here and write elsewhere

Yep, nope. 

• Make a conscious decision to leave my comfort zone

So last night I was chilling in my kitchen with my two roommates, and there was some pretty serious tension. Not between us, and not for any particular reason, but the energy was significantly low, and it seemed a lot more intense than just a casual synchronizing of cycles. Emily and I were talking about it this morning, and it turns out that both of us regularly experience a disorienting, heavy energy in the apartment when there's really no reason for it. I adore both my roommates, we've got tons of space, and this room's perfect for me, what with its seabreeze green walls, borderline-obsessive abundance of candles, and stuffed carrot man. 

I've heard a lot about how a space can soak up the energies of the people who've been in it, and if that's true, the disoriented feeling would make a crapton of sense. Judging by the footsteps-to-creaking ratio, this place is pretty damn old, and I'm sure tons of people have lived, fought, cried, laughed, stressed, and smoked copious amounts of god-knows-what within these walls. I'd never done a cleansing before, but I figured it couldn't hurt. Emily and I said a couple positive affirmations, did a quick meditation, and went around the house with some sage. I can't even begin to stress how much better it feels in here right now. 

• Take three pictures of three beautiful things.

(1). See above. 
(2). See above.
(3). See above. 

Meditate

Besides the cleansing meditation, no. I'll get in a few more minutes before bed tonight,  

• Look up at the sky 

Stared upwards the whole walk to the pool hall. Tons of stars, and mostly clear except for a couple clouds that rolled in towards the end. Still, they were thin enough that the moon could shine through them. Not sure if it was a natural thing or just air pollution, but there was a halo-like rainbow around it. Adorable.

"Two bubbles found they had rainbows on their curves. They flickered out saying: 'It was worth being a bubble, just to have held that rainbow thirty seconds.'"

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