Getting to know me

     This week and next, I will put some energy into paying attention to my body.  My observation so far is that when you are new at something, riding a bike, a new city, a new game, etc. you pay attention.  I think of cards for example.  I have been playing a silly game once a week for much of the past six months at home. It is silly because although you shuffle, you deal out cards in a stack to each player.  Hence, the chance of having several cards in a series is greater than if you dealt in the usual manner, one card at a time to each player.  The mindful player would realize that the top two cards might match cards in the hand of the player to the right etc.  Rather than count cards, the experienced or serious player would remember what suit and face of the card a player was collecting.   The unaware player, such as myself is ignorant of the cards and as it is, most of what is going on outside the conversation stream.

     How often do I change position, take a sip of my coffee or water, blink, scratch my head, adjust my glasses?  Am I mindful of my breath?  I thought yesterday, do I breathe in or out when I am eating.  Why am I not just breathing in?  Is this another example of life is suffering?  If I only took inhalations, my lungs would explode or only exhalations, my lungs would collapse. 

     I move up and down and closer and farther away to ease my back when I type.  I often blink  (It took me a long time to train myself to do that on the computer so my eyes were not dry).  I had an itch on my back, my mind wandered to “shower before class or after a massage?”. 

    Over the many years, I have become so familiar with myself that I run on autopilot.  The functioning body is taken for grant.  I think many people see me as self-sufficient and just moving along without realizing how hard I work at watching my actions, staying on course, setting daily goals, etc.   However, I have not spent time with my auto functioning body and it is now appropriate in the land of Siam, I say to my body, “I’m getting to know you, getting to know all about you.”