An Amazing Mind

Imagine you want to eat a peach. But you decide to wash the dishes before you reward yourself with the peach. As you wash the dishes, you will be thinking about the peach. But what will you be thinking about when you eat the peach?

The concept of enjoying the present moment is contained in all traditional philosophies, as well as modern psychoanalysis. There’s a simple reason for enjoying the present moment. You can’t exactly enjoy the past or the future. Vividly imagined or remembered events are good stuff. They’re nice. But they totally fade in comparison with really enjoying the present moment.

Enjoy the peach. And worry about later when later becomes now.

5. Smell it, buddy, smell it

Richard Feynman told of how he came upon the subject of smelling. He heard from a friend that people are a lot better at it than they think. So he proposed his wife a little experiment. In her room, there was a shelf with old books she hadn’t touched in a while. Feynman would go out for two minutes, she would take a book off the shelf, hold it in her hands and then put it back. Feynman would then come back in and try to figure out which book she took by smelling them.

He got it right.

He then later got three of his friends to try a similar experiment. Each of the friends would touch a book, and Feynman would try which friend handled which book. He got it right again.

Of course, after hearing this story, I had to try it myself. I got a friend to try it with. We both took turns going out of the room as the other held one book in their hands. We both got it right on our first try.

As Feynman said, the books that haven’t been handled in a while have a dry, uninterested smell. But the one that has been touched, it has a sort of moist smell. More alive.

I definitely encourage you to try the same experiment. It’s silly, it’s fun, and at the same time it’s quite amazing.

I also sometimes thoroughly smell other things when I feel like it. Ever tried smelling your computer screen? A glass of mineral water? A fresh newspaper? An old newspaper? Try it, it’s fun.

4. Look around you. No, really look.

Have you ever seen a child completely absorbed in observing things around them? Like looking at ants scurry around with their big-ass white eggs. Children can watch such simple things for hours on end. Children are naturally very present-minded. It’s only later, as adult worries set in, that we forget how to.

Look around you now. Notice every little thing. The little dents and scratches on your desk. The smudges on your computer screen. Every little detail.

I don’t recommend checking out everything all-day long with such thoroughness. But you can allow yourself a couple of minutes each day.

3. Listen to your surroundings

Take a moment to listen to all the little noises in your environment. Your computer fan whirring. Sounds of people talking. The distant sound of traffic. The little squeaks and groans of your chair as you shift your weight.

Listening to everything around you is especially beneficial when you’re out in nature. You can really enjoy the sounds there (singing birds sound better than honking cars).

2. Use your peripheral vision

It’s amazing how much you can see while looking straight ahead. It’s almost a full hemisphere. Of course you can’t quite see things that aren’t directly in front. Try picking some object right at the edge of your vision, and then guess its colour.

Your colour vision stops past a certain point. After that, your brain adds in the colour based on educated guessing. Even further than that, you can only see objects if they move. If they stay still, you have no idea they’re there.

Try finding the edge of your peripheral vision. Put your hand at the side of your head where you can’t see it. Wiggle your forefinger. Now slowly move it forward, until the moment you just start to see it. That’s where you eyesight starts.

I also heard that focusing on your peripheral vision helps if a song gets stuck in your head. Definitely worth trying.

1. Use your senses in unusual ways

I’ve already discussed this in one of my articles. So check it out for more detail. The short explanation is - do common routine things in uncommon ways. Like brushing your teeth with your other hand. Or taking a shower with your eyes closed (during the whole process).

There are restaurants where you eat in complete darkness. It has an amazing effect. With your eyesight short-circuited, you notice sensory input you never noticed before. Even simple white yogurt becomes a symphony of great tastes. It also helps they name the foods like “blue sky”. It’s a lot of fun to eat that way.

You can use the same effect. Just tie a piece of cloth around your eyes as you do your normal daily tasks. You wouldn’t believe how much fun such simple things as walking around can become.

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Week at a glance

This week I read a great article called 4 Powerful reasons to up your enthusiasm, and how to do it. I personally know a few extremely enthusiastic people. They’re a joy to be around.

So I figured I’d do a 7-day trial of being totally enthusiastic myself. And I mean really enthusiastic. As in Lil-Jon-enthusiastic or FPS_Doug-enthusiastic. I’ll post in a week, next saturday, on how it went.