Monday 15 February 2010

Have I conquered the hoovering!!!?

For some reason, I've always found it hard to stay in the present moment while hoovering. I couldn't figure out why, during this activity, it was particularly hard to stay focused, but I think I've cracked it!

It was only when talking to my wife about how, believe it or not, when doing things such as parking a car for example, I'd feel like I had to turn the car stereo off to be able to concentrate fully.
Whereas she would quite happily reverse park the car straight into the garage with Gun's and Roses (no accounting for taste) blearing  in the background.

Anyways, I had a think about how the noise of the hoover was making it hard for me to keep focus. I was kind of trying to focus on the movements and feelings of the activity but the noise would somehow distract me. Then I realised that all I needed to do was just keep my attention on the noises I was making while hoovering.

The sound of the hoover, the plastic mechanisms as I extended the handle, the noise as it glided in different directions on the floor.

Since the hoover makes such a distinctive and continuous noise, your brain still has to take in and compute those noises. Perhaps sometimes there's too much information coming in to be able to split your attention on all the senses.

You wouldn't believe how clear my mind was, which is a stark contrast to some of the places it takes me while hoovering!

Monday 1 February 2010

Busy Christmas and New Year

I'd glad to say not a day has gone by where I haven't kept up the meditation practices. It's been an extremely busy xmas and new year but I feel I've dealt with it really well.

Those times when I notice my thoughts are busier I've followed the guided meditations I found on the WildMind website, http://wildmind.org/

Particularly when I'm tired from lack of sleep, I find it harder to focus on the detailed sensations of my breathing, so I take longer concentrating on the totality of breathing and very gradually narrow the focus down to a particular point.