Friday, April 1, 2011

April - Pay Attention

Pay Attention, also known as Mindfulness, will be our new category for Spring.  It's all about being more present, being more aware of things about yourself.  In order to be more aware I will record aspects of my life.  In school, we would have to do these annoying assignments, like to photograph something every day that related to a certain architects style.  So every day you had to keep our eye out for something and take pictures.  It was a pain in the ass, but I did make you more aware of your surroundings.  Recording things makes you more aware of them.

So, I am going to keep a journal.  I find I live in my head a lot, and many of my thoughts are circular in the sense that I re-think certain conversations or issues over and over in my mind.  I find that writing down ALL my thoughts to be nearly impossible and trying is so exhausting that I often edit them down.  I find it to be a release, once on paper I find less fuel for the repetitive thinking, which is good.

I'd also like to keep a dream journal.  When I was in university I found I rarely ever had dreams, but now that I'm out of school I dream all the time.  I'm going to see if I can get Flash to ask me in the mornings (since he gets up before me) what I'm dreaming about.  I find that if I say it aloud I'll remember it better.

Another thing is a food diary.  I could eat better.  I probably eat worse than I think I do, and the best way to find out is by keeping track.  It's the snacks that I think will shock me once I've got several days recorded.  Being aware of bad habits is the best step towards breaking them.  Don't think you watch that much TV, try logging your hours watched everyday.  Don't think you spend that much on lunches, write down your spending.  A lot of our bad habits are done unconsciously and recording them bring the ol' ugly truth to light.

Another goal is to stimulate the mind in new ways.  A good way to do this is by learning something new.  People are hyper aware on the first day of a new job because you need to be present.  New situations challenge us to be present.  I've debated taking a class, or reading a book on a subject I know next to nothing about.  There was a Creative Printmaking class my friend Reno sent me info on but it's not offered this spring.  Sad face.  Hopefully it'll be in the next cycle of classes.

My goals: write everything down, stimulate the mind in new ways, be aware, be present.

No comments:

Post a Comment