“We began the practice of taking on a new mindfulness tool or task each week at the monastery about twenty years ago. The idea came from a man who had lived in a community that followed the teachings of the mystic Gurdjieff. He explained that it didn’t matter if you succeed with the task or not. Sometimes not doing the exercise could teach you more than doing it, because you got to look at why you didn’t do it. What was behind it — laziness, old aversions, or just spacing out? The point is to live more and more in a conscious way, Gurdjieff called this “self-remembering.” In Buddhism, we call it awakening to our true self. It is waking up to our life that actually is, not the fantasy we often live out in our mind.” – How to Train a Wild Elephant
Challenge 1: Using non-dominant hand
Last week, I started to retrain myself to take full advantage of my left hand. I’m most consistently practicing typing, brushing my teeth and eating with my left hand. I’m also doing just the opposite of my norm. When I get on a bus, my tendency is to go right. I’m working on turning to the left side for my seat selection. It’s being aware of the choice that I’m making. It reinforces my belief that I always have a choice even in the smallest way. As I continue to work on using my non-dominant hand and physically and mentally stretch different muscles, I enter my second week.
Challenge 2: Leave no trace
This notion goes against my Girl Scout upbringing. We were always taught to leave a place better than we found out. This challenge is to leave a place with no trace that I’ve been there. The book suggests picking a bathroom or kitchen and always leave it exactly as you found it. I’m going to do my office. At home, I live alone and enjoy a clutter free existence. My entire house stays relatively ‘untouched.‘ I like to keep it orderly. My office at work is another story. I tend to keep everything a little more free. I need to clean off my desk anyway and work from that vantage point. I know last night I left a spew of handouts on my keyboard. Who wants to be greeted with that?
I’m going to use this week to bring some order to my workspace. It’s a powerful realization to understand it’s not *MY* office. Even after 10 years, I’m merely a visitor in this place. I’m going to get it to an organized spot. And then every night, I will leave it as I found it in the morning. I’ll leave it pristine for myself or whomever takes up residence there.
In the Zen practice, sea turtles represent leaving no trace. As they creep, they sweep the sand with their tails. I’m going to turtle it this week.