Consciousness Cleansing

Recently, I’ve started a 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse by Debbie Ford.  I am only on the second day and I feel peaceful but strong, with an increasing sense of purpose. 

One thing that I already find profoundly different is the quiet strength that comes from avoiding the media.  According to the book, social media like Facebook can lead to comparing yourself to others, instead of looking within to focus on your own path.  Everyone’s path is definitively unique to them and their dreams, so why would I look to measure my success based on another’s pictures, postings, life events?  I didn’t even realize I was doing this until I stopped.  Even after two days, I can feel my self-confidence increasing, as well as faith in my own journey.

I’ve also been drastically limiting television, especially programs that are violent or stressful.  A favorite reading of mine by Thich Nhat Hanh in Peace is Every Step says,

“Watching a bad TV program, we become the TV program.  We are what we feel and perceive…  We can be anything we want, so why do we open our windows to bad TV programs made by sensationalist producers in search of easy money, programs that make our hearts pound, our fists tighten, and leave us exhausted?  Who allows such TV programs to be made and seen by even the very young?  We do!  We are too undemanding, too ready to watch whatever is on the screen, too lonely, lazy, or bored to create our own lives.  We turn on the TV and leave it on, allowing someone else to guide us, shape us, and destroy us.  Losing ourselves in this way is leaving our fate in the hands of others who may not be acting responsibly.”

My husband isn’t exactly thrilled about this, as we just started watching Breaking Bad and I’ve requested we put it on hold for a little while.  Luckily, he’s very supportive and understanding, though, so I’m optimistic that my marriage will survive the turn from daily time staring at the TV together for hours as lumps on the couch.  I’m hoping we can get outside a bit more and find some delight in nature before it gets too cold here in Ohio. 

I’m hoping to come through this cleanse as a Best-Selling Author, successful new business owner (more on that later), and Overall Better Person.  A skinny one.  Oh right, it’s not that kind of cleanse this time.  OK, so really I’d like to be more peaceful and powerful in my own life.  Wish me luck!

An Illusion of Separateness

In the doctor’s office waiting room, I was overcome with the strangeness of our efforts to pretend we are alone in the world.  Everyone in the waiting room was sitting with at least one chair between them and a stranger.  Every single person avoided eye contact with everyone else.  I even tried an experiment where I looked around and tried to catch someone’s eye.  It seemed to make people even more uncomfortable, pulling closer into their personal bubbles.  Obviously, we are all people.  We are all sharing space here.  Why the very conscious efforts to look down, to pretend to read a magazine, to remain separate?  What are we afraid of?  (OK, it is the doctor’s office… maybe we’re afraid of communicable diseases…)

So, what about when you’re stopped at a red light, consciously looking straight ahead, anywhere but at the car next to you (especially if you’ve just behaved badly on the road, thinking of racing the other little box beside you and not thinking of the person behind the wheel)?  What about those who text the whole time they are out to dinner?  How emails, chats, and smart phones are quickly replacing face-to-face exchanges?

I’ve begun to notice that everywhere I go, people seem to be trying with all of their might to pretend that they are the only ones there.  At restaurants, movie theaters, in lines.  I’ve always been so busy doing the same that it never occurred to me how STRANGE it is to pretend other human beings aren’t there.

Are we not all sharing in this journey?

What is happening to our society?  Would we rather wrap ourselves in little bubbles and not interact – ever?

I don’t know where the balance is, however.  Obviously, we can’t go have conversations with everyone in an entire restaurant.  There is a point where you just want to talk to the person you came with.  Sometimes, the waitress wants to get your tip and go, not chat.  And we're all so used to this as the expected norm. 

I’ve tried looking into the other car and either the other person isn’t looking or it seems pretty creepy for both.   Why do I feel weird looking for a human behind the wheel?  We're not "supposed to" do that...

I’m not proposing we turn the entire world into a kumbaya commune.  But I am asking, has anyone else noticed that we might be going in a weird direction? 

*Note:  Image borrowed from: blog.lib.umn.edu