I'd like to welcome you to a recurring feature we'll have in this course where we follow someone who's going through the same weekly mindful activities as you are. Traditionally, mindfulness courses that are taught in person have an important component where participants are able to share aspects of their journey with the class, and then peers can ask questions or make comments, and the instructor is there to help facilitate the conversation and occasionally offer insider or make points along the way. While there will be opportunities to share with your peers in the discussion forums, the reality with a course like this is that, I won't always be there as a guide along the way. But I hope these segments will remind you that you're not alone in this. We can still create a strong sense of community and learn deeply from one another in spite of our physical distance, or the fact that you might be moving through these practices at a time and pace that are different from your peers. For this course, we'll be following Seth. Seth is a colleague of mine here at Rice, and like you, has just began his journey with mindfulness. Seth and I will have weekly meetings online where we discuss what he's noticing in and through these practices, and I'll help him work through any challenges or answer any questions that might be coming up for him along the way. In this week's case study, we'll be focused on taking just that very first step towards cultivating mindful awareness. We've titled this week's set of activity challenges Learning To Pay Attention. The challenges included picking an everyday routine and attempting to focus solely on that, creating your own scavenger hunt, and taking a soundwalk. Let's see what Seth has to say. Hey, Seth thanks again for being willing to bring us along on your journey. Why don't you start by telling us a little bit about your interest in the subject. Yeah, sure. Happy to participate. So I'm working up field where I'm fairly disconnected from most of the people I communicate with, and I feel that carries over to my personal relationships. I guess I've noticed that the more I'm connected with technology, the less I am with the people and the things that truly matter in my life. So I'm hoping that this mindfulness experience helps me regain that connection. Well, then I'll hope that for you too. So this week you focused on taking just that very first step towards cultivating mindful awareness. So tell me a little bit about how these challenges went for you. Sure. Overall, I really enjoyed these challenges. They actually felt more like games to me. I'm going to pull up my notes here. I guess I'll start with the informal practice you asked us to do. I pick brushing my teeth, which I do every day, every tooth even. I guess I should start by saying that the first couple of times, they went pretty good, and it felt interesting just to slow down and pay attention to just one thing. Even more than that, to pay attention to just one aspect of that thing, just like how the toothpaste tasted and smelled. But I can only do this for a couple of seconds at a time before I started thinking about something else. But it did remind me that I like toothpaste, specifically the brand and flavor I have now. I also really like that my teeth went from that morning fuzzy, yucky feeling to a smooth and clean one when I was done. It made me feel like I was doing something healthy for myself and others I suppose, too. Thanks. Yes. So noticing a couple of moments of feeling pretty good. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. I guess I have to say though, I did brush my teeth a few times without paying attention, and then I had to put up sticky notes to remind myself around mid-week. But those helped a lot. Yeah. There's no shame in that. I mean, you've been brushing your teeth several times a day for your whole life without giving it too much thought. So it makes sense that you might need a reminder to pay attention in a different way. Yeah. I didn't really notice this at first, but after paying attention to brushing my teeth all week, it clicks how unusual it is for me to focus in on something like that. Usually, I'm trying to be really efficient and doing a bunch of stuff at once. That's bad, I know. So I spend tasks like brushing my teeth to mentally prepare for a meeting I might have later in the day or just attending to some random thought. What kind of random thought? Like one morning I remembered that I still have my wisdom teeth and I went down a whole rabbit hole about making a dentist appointment, and my insurance, and blah blah blah. By the time I realized it, I had rinsed and no memory of the experience. So I don't want to put words in your mouth, but did paying attention in a deep way like that help you see a contrast between being mindful and shall we say, being mindless? Yeah. I guess it did, which is probably good for me to start to notice. But also I'm worried about how to continue to be efficient. I mean, it feels like I wouldn't be using my time wisely if I was just ultra absorbed in whatever I'm doing, right? Yeah. Well, it is good for you to start to notice what it feels like to pay attention and what it feels like when you're often in some kind of virtual reality in your mind. You can better identify the times that you're really present from those times that you're not. So in mindfulness verbage, we call that waking up or waking up for your life. But I'm really glad that you mentioned your concern for efficiency. Wanting to be efficient is a trap that a lot of us can fall into, myself included. So part of what's interesting about the relationship between mindfulness and efficiency is that it's the inverse of what you might think. We don't become inefficient because we choose to be mindful. Actually, our regular mindfulness practice helps to see how much energy we burn and time we waste just thinking about things that we can't change or that we can't control. So what you'll find is that if you stick with this practice, it actually opens up more time and then we can become more efficient, not less. Well I guess the opposite is kind of true for me anyway. Like when I try to be more efficient by multitasking, but then I end up doing like a slapdash job of everything I'm doing at once. Then there's that, which is all the more reason to focus on the present. So I'm hearing that you had some insights with this once. Taking pleasure in small things, recognizing the difference between being mindful and being checked out. Anything else? Not really. Just that when I remember to do it, it's a good start to my day. Yeah. Great. Good. Well, you want to move on? Yeah, sure. So I had a lot of fun with the next one too, the scavenger hunt. This was the challenge that was definitely the most like a game to me. I tried to pick something out on a drive or when I was walking somewhere, and if I would spot it, it made me feel almost like a sense of accomplishment. I love that. So if you don't mind, you just mentioned a sense of accomplishment. What does that feel like for you in your body? I guess it makes me smile. It feels like buzzing in my chest, shoulders. Relax and makes me feel good. Well that's lovely. So then thinking about it now, how does that feel? Feels nice. Also good like similar feelings in the body. Yeah. So in your game you pick an object and then you keep your eyes peeled for it. How successful were you, assuming that you didn't pick any impossible objects? Yeah. That was pretty good. Some objects were easier to find than others, but usually I spotted at least one or two each time. Great. So look what happens when we pay attention with curiosity. Nice. The last shot? Yes. I had fun with this one too. Keeping track of all the unique sounds, and trying to determine whether a car splashing through a puddle was the same sound as a bicycle riding through a puddle, and I decided that it was. Then at about 15 minutes I heard 32 different sounds, ranging from construction equipment, to music, to laughter, and more natural sounds. Wow. That's a lot to track. That's great. So I heard you say that you're trying to identify the source of sounds, is that right? Yes. So that's an interesting thing for you to notice too, that kind of contraction into thinking. I don't think I know what you mean. Well, so when we begin to analyze or make judgments about something, like what happens when we're trying to identify the source of a sound, what we've done is that we've really lifted out having a direct experience. We're not really practicing open and receptive listening where we're trying to figure out what we heard. I guess that judgment happened so quick I didn't even feel like I had a choice. Yeah, I know. It feels like that, doesn't it? Thoughts just kind of pop up and turn into thinking really quickly. So when you noticed it, what did you do? I guess I thought about it for a second and then went back to listening. That's great. So noticing the thinking mind and then just coming back to sound. That's the practice. Wow. So I'm really appreciating the energy that you put into these challenges. One of the things that we talk about in that first module is how we can come into full presence by paying attention generally to our physical senses. So tell me a little bit about what you noticed about your presence in general this week, and maybe if you saw any carryover from these activities into other areas of your life. Sure, yeah. I guess I understand what you're talking about a little better. It helps to have my own experience of it. Well, I guess I'm just going to have to keep working on the stuff. I think there's a lot that I don't pay attention to. Yeah, well this is week 1. There's still a lot I don't pay attention to and I've been at this for years. You just remember that you can keep repeating these activities, even as we move into next week. True. I guess overall I was a little bit more present, or maybe I noticed when I wasn't present. I'm not sure. Well just keep paying attention to both of those things and notice what they both feel like, present and checked out. Will do. All right. Well Seth, thanks again for being courageous enough to share your experiences with your peers. It seems like this first week was a great step on your new path. So I wish you well as you move into your second week with this material, and look forward to hearing from you again in our second case study session. Great. Bye. All right, goodbye.
