Driving into my garage Friday after work, I caught my mind in the middle of a story.  Its favorite activity.  I reminded myself (verbally, out loud, again) that that was a world all encompassed within the eight inches between my ears.  I noticed my perspective shift to size that space compared to my garage, then my front yard, my street and on out.  Yet that interior world was so compelling and seductive, I almost slipped back into it.

I started watering the pots of flowers on my front porch (90-degree temperatures require daily heavy watering).  I noticed the white geraniums and remembered an Avatar tool the intent of which is to intensify your attention on an object.  I put all of my attention on the flowers.  I noticed attributes of the flowers I hadn’t before:  the amount of buds, the bend of a stem, the browning flowers past bloom, the spicy smell, the curves of the leaves, the different stages of each bloom, and more.  Not only was I no longer in my head dancing with that story, but I couldn’t even remember what the story was.  Bliss…

This is such an easy practice tool to do in the summer.  There’s so much blooming and changing quickly.  I stopped the car on the way home from errands Saturday morning just to notice the grasses and flowers (weeds?) on the side of the road.  What a huge variety! What a joy it is to focus on everything around me and not my little idea of me.