An open mind is a source of potential energy.
On Wednesday, I asked our chef Sarah from Friend That Cooks where I could find the caper dill sauce in the frig.
Sarah replied: "It is in the jar I marked caper dill sauce."
There was a jar to the left of the marked jar that was the container she usually puts caper dill sauce in and it looked a lot like caper dill sauce. Since this is the container where she had always put the caper dill sauce in the past, I believed it must be there now, so I asked one more time: "Where is the caper dill sauce?"
She said patiently: "It's in the jar marked caper dill sauce."
After more exchanges, during which my voice increased in volume, as if Sarah didn't speak English and if I spoke louder she would suddenly understand, my mind finally opened! The caper dill sauce was in the jar labeled caper dill sauce!
Initially my mind was a closed mind, which Scott Forrester in The Aware Athlete, notes is similar to a battery on a shelf that never gets used.
Do you have an open mind? Do expectations have the effect of closing your mind? My goal is to have expanded awareness and interested curiosity - the suggestions left in the comments by Anon last week.
CLUE: Use insect repellent when you go out for a walk. The mosquitoes are plentiful and the few bites I have received swelled, were bright red, and itched like crazy!
Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall
Image: I love fountains! This could be anywhere in the world which is to say I don't remember where I received the photo.
Join me in contemplating the following sentences:
"Sense and feel your innate ability without letting conflicting thoughts interfere. When you do this, you are ready to release some of your potential. Can you see how effort gets in the way of assuming a proper standing position? No matter how much muscular tension we put into trying to stand well, it is immersion in the process of sensing and feeling that helps us to release energy efficiently, not the effort to try harder that brings us close bit by bit to the ideal of standing." The Aware Athlete
Since May 28th, I've been attending Tai Chi for Balance classes where I practice banishing the conflicting thoughts referenced above. Thoughts that pop up in my head. Notions like: "I can't do this!" or "I will never remember this." In the past when I practiced Tai Chi, these types of thoughts interfered. I don't want that to happen again.
It's interesting, if some one tells me to try harder, I can easily do that. However, if I'm told to sense and feel, I want to give up. I think: I don't know how! I'm learning that in order to sense and feel, slowing down is required. I need to develop gentle trust in myself.
Please let me know if you have ideas for how to manage conflicting thoughts. Do you ever encounter negativity when you try to learn a new skill or way of being? How do you manage your inner dialogue? Do you have the ability to sense and feel bodily sensations? How did you learn? What do you fear would happen if you slowed down?
Thank you for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall
CLUE: Open the dictionary in the middle section and pick a word to think about for a day or two. Perhaps say it out loud. It can be a new word or one you love. When I opened my paperback Random House Webster's Dictionary of American English (that I purchased from Half Price Books because I was advised real writers need to have a paperback dictionary on their desks), I found the word horizon. I remember how my Dad sat in his aluminum web folding chair and gazed over the fields towards the horizon. He knew exactly where the sun would set based on the season. He didn't want any darn mountains in his way! I will look for ways to use the word horizon in the next few days. The word has already brought me pleasure. Please let me know what word you choose and what associations you have.
IMAGE: This was the view from my room when I attended a workshop in New Zealand last December. It was beautiful!
"Every day in every way I am getting better and better."
Have you heard similar sayings in the past? I have. Frankly, I used to turn up my nose at words like this. But when Scott Forrester, in The Aware Athlete, describes the use of "auto suggestion," with phrases like this, I am tempted to give it a try.
He says if you give voice to this phrase at dawn's early light and then again at the dimming of the sun in a focused, relaxed, accepting manner, you will be moving toward the elimination of conflicting thoughts that interfere with releasing your potential. (My paraphrase of page 236)
The psychoanalytical literature in which I've been swimming is convoluted in ways that match my paraphrase. I believe I've been infected. Let me assure you that Scott has not. If you can't understand my language, please buy his book. You won't be sorry.
Similar to this idea of focusing on the possible, I've been trying to celebrate progress when it happens. On Wednesday I attended a Tai Chi Balance class, an Active Adults class, and went for a short walk all without pain. I'm celebrating because six months ago, I wouldn't have had been able to do this! Thursday I went for a two mile walk! Friday morning I have a very tight hamstring but I can stretch that!
How do you calm your conflicting thoughts and unleash your potential? What do you need to celebrate? I'd love to know!
CLUE: Pick a book you haven't looked in for awhile. Open it randomly and see what you learn. I love doing this!
Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall
Image: After not seeing crows for several weeks, I've noticed two huge black crows in our backyard. They are so loud that I couldn't miss them. Crows always remind me of my New Zealand friend Jo, who loved crows. I wish she could return like the crows.
I'm wading through psychoanalytic literature searching for tidbits to include in my memoir. It only seemed fair to share a provocative bit here:
"In our dreams," Anna Freud (Sigmund's daughter) said, "we can have our eggs cooked exactly as we want them, but we can't eat them."
She continues:
"In reality, we can eat our eggs because they are not cooked exactly as we want them."
Here's how I tried to make sense of this:
I went for a seemingly perfect walk on Tuesday - neither my leg nor my left foot hurt which was a cause for celebration. It was 78 degrees and the path was beautiful. I felt full of gratitude. It was like a dream come true.
In reality: Nature gifted me with three very large annoying bites on my neck and collarbone that itch and are very distracting.
Take away- Nothing is perfect. Do you agree? Can you give me an example of how your dreams and reality are different? Are you able to be happy with less than perfection?
CLUE: Set the timer for 15 minutes and stretch your body slowly while enjoying the fact that you have a body. Tell me how it goes.
Image: Picture from a glorious bouquet a few weeks ago.
