How is Your Awareness?
Greetings. This is your friendly neighborhood behavioral health therapist, Jim Ellermeyer, coming to you through Fishing Without Bait where we encourage a lifetime without definitive expectations. This is also a space where we’re participating in full-impact mindfulness. If you haven’t been following the journey through our podcasts, full-impact mindfulness is getting into your life – not just walking through your life, but living your life.
With this idea of full-impact mindfulness, I’ve been challenging folks out there to find out what you are missing in your life. And, I’m just not talking about quarters on the street or dollar bills floating by. I’m not talking about fiery neon signs in the sky or bombs bursting off in the distance. What I’m talking about is things that are right in front of you, so unusual that if you would actually pay attention and see them, then they would have some wonderful meaning for you.
Imagine how much more exciting your life would be when you actually participate in it. Instead of beginning to think everything’s mundane and boring in your life, look at what you’re missing right in front of you instead. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, I’m going to suggest that you go to YouTube, which is one of the most wonderful sites in the world. In fact, a site that has all the Three Stooges episodes on it has to be absolutely fantastic. So, I would like you to go to an awareness test. Take a look at this video. It’s only about a minute long. So, do that right now, and we’ll come back.
Now that you’ve watched the video, my question to you is, what did you see the first time you watched the video? Assuming you watched it a second time, what did you see differently? When the video asked you about the passes, I’m sure you were watching it and focusing on counting the passes. Spoiler: There’s thirteen passes. But, then the video asks whether you saw the moonwalking bear. And, when you look at it the second time you see it right there – plain as day. There’s a moonwalking bear right in the middle of the screen. It’s not a brief blip either. The bear dances into the middle of the crowd. It waves to you, and moonwalks away.
My question to you is how many moonwalking bears are you missing in your life? How many things are you missing that are right in front of you? How many fantastic and interesting things do you miss because you’re concentrating on so much else? You’re concentrating on what time it is. You’re concentrating on that text message. You’re concentrating on the e-mail, or what you’re going to say to your boss, or how you’re going to pay the rent, or some other mundane thing in your life, like how your sports team is going to do that evening, or how your fantasy baseball league is doing. However, you’re missing the moonwalking bears. When you stop and look at it again, you find that you’re focusing on the things that really don’t have a whole lot of meaning in your life.
So, would you like to go home at the end of the day and say, “Well, I saw a moonwalking bear today downtown. I saw a moonwalking bear on my ride home today. I was at the office, or I was at a friend’s place and we saw a moonwalking bear.” My question to you, and my challenge to you out there is don’t let your mind play tricks on you. Remember, your mind’s trying to keep you away from what’s right in front of you.
When you have full-impact mindfulness you’re in the moment. You’re right there. And, that moonwalking bear’s going to be right in front of you. And, what a glorious day that will be. I challenge you – find the moonwalking bears in your life. Live in full-impact mindfulness. And, life a life of Fishing Without Bait.
