Greetings All ~
I've been on the sofa a lot lately—about 3 weeks. I had some foot surgery. I organized it all. Got a knee scooter and moved some furniture for easy scooting. Set up a command center in the living room with an empty journal, a stack of books and the idea of cleaning up backed-up emails. Ha! None of it happened.
The first several days were involved with pain management. This meant staying off the foot and keeping it elevated. I am fortunate enough to be in possession of of my grandmother's sofa from back in the day. This piece of furniture was created for napping. Anyone going prone on it starts to snooze! But I digress. These first days set the tone for a stillness, both physical and mental.
I began to tune into the pulsing of damaged/healing nerves and how my breath sympathetically aligned to its rhythm. Just that one thing, the breath, when directed, nurtured the wound with cooling, healing prana on the inhale and released the heat of damage on the exhale. Circumstances were leading me to an awareness of the miracle of the human body, my body. And when I surrendered to them, there was comfort in those pulsations. I was also aided by my kitty, Nellie, who snuggled in with me that whole first night and helped me to heal by just purring.
The next few days I stayed still and quiet, and on the days the foot started to feel good, I'd get up and overdo it. That created a regression, and would send me back to the sofa for a long session of stillness. I had to learn this several times until I surrendered to the benefit of not getting bored or distracted, but just being still.
Surrendering to things normally overlooked—the breath, the light and temperature in the room, the smell of the garden, the birds, the train in the distance, voices of people strolling by—all these became a flow, a vibe of Just One Thing. Even during the times I was moving (and overdoing), I had to be on that scooter or hold the foot up. This forced a deceleration of activity. I had to focus on Just One Thing, so as not to create more "traffic" for myself and to simply avoid injury.
While doing Just One Thing, something extraordinary started to happen. When I thought of someone, they would call, text or email. For instance, I have two items I figured on getting framed once I could drive to the shop. The framer actually called me, out of the blue, to make an appointment. When watching a movie, I'd know the next line—exactly. I solved the "Wordle" puzzle on the first try!
When I was staying on a self-structured retreat in Ladakh, I was always tickled at how my lama-son, Stanzin, and my lama-brother, Chamba, knew, almost to the minute, when to knock on my door. Just as I was coming out of a deep meditation, I would hear their light steps approaching, followed by that gentle tap. As I see it now, their ability to cut through the crap and smoothly get things done is a function of their meditative mindset. Granted, they're monks. They've chosen a lifestyle pretty much tailored to do that for the purpose of alleviating human suffering. I can only imagine that's a whole lot easier when you're in the flow of Just One Thing.
Anything is a lot easier in that flow. And it takes a bit of practice and effort to get the mind onto one thing—Just One Thing. Some get into the flow by dancing, chanting, writing, painting, child-rearing,pranayam, science experimentation, accounting... there is a meditative quality about any of these, as long as it's Just One Thing. You may get interrupted by your family or your boss. Stop, notice where you are, handle the interruption as Just One Thing. Then return to that other.
It may seem that multitasking is efficient. But dispersing the mind, spreading it thin, dishonors it and is a misuse of its power. Try practicing Just One Thing for a week. It may feel hard at first, but you might be happy, even astounded, at the results. Let me know how it goes!
All Good Things,
Vicky Rose