Notice Red

The mindfulness challenge this week is to take noticing the color red very, very seriously.  Some mindfulness gurus take students by the hand, blindfolded, into a room they have never seen before.  They remove the blindfold, then ask the student to gaze around the room with the expectation that they will be asked to describe what is in the room.  They are only given about 15 seconds. The blindfold is re-affixed and the question is asked,

“Now describe what is in this room.” 

It’s a particularly challenging task for most people.  The task I have this week is nothing as difficult or onerous as that task, but in a way it has the same intent.  The task is each day, throughout the entire week, to take notice of everything that has red or is the color red.

  • This might be red on a billboard, red on the highway, red on a signal light or a traffic sign. 
  • It may be red that you notice in a picture on a wall. 
  • It may be red in a carpet that you are walking on. 
  • It may be the texture of red on the walls of a room that you are entering or red that is worn by people who you encounter.

Of course you might acknowledge red that you may yourself be wearing that day. You will soon know better than most that red is found all over the place.

The task however is to take special notice every time you encounter the color red no matter where you find it.  I invite you to let red find you. Consider this to be a serious search everyday as you meticulously search for red everywhere in the environment you find yourself in.

An ancillary assignment that you may want to undertake one or two or all seven days is to keep a mental count of the number of times you spotted the color red.  Don’t actually make a record on a piece of paper or a notebook. See if you can remember the last number in the count and then add to that number when you see an object with the color red.  Do this until you actually reach the number 100.  If you get the end of the day and realize you are only at 64, then do a meticulous search to find more and more objects that have the color red unit you reach the magical number of 100.

There is a final mindfulness invitation. This one is only for situations where you are in a secure, safe place. Do not consider doing this while driving or certainly not while operating heavy equipment machinery. When you are in a safe place and you spot the color red no matter what it happens to be on or where it is coming from – whether from the sky or the earth – something in nature or something man-made – allow yourself to receive and be soaked with the frequency of red.  Allow yourself to become red each time that you see it.

This will become more understandable in a few days.  Enjoy the next few days as you encounter object after object that contains the color red. Marvel at the redness that you encounter.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

Deeper Meaning Behind Touch

What is the deeper meaning behind becoming aware and sensitive to touch?  When we make physical contact with another person who is disconnected and detached, when there is touching but no consciousness associated with the touch – what comes back to us from that other living being is the same:  detachment, disconnection and distance.

When we touch another living being with compassion, when the touch is “mindful” – what returns to us is the same: love, compassion and a deep connection.  When I say “living being” I’m not just talking about persons.

Many of you are well aware of what it means to touch an animal; a dog, a cat or a horse.  Horses, cats and dogs are no different humans; when we touch tenderly and lovingly what returns back to us is the very same delicious energy.

Let’s step down one level, for there is a deeper meaning to this particular challenge.  To what extent are you mindfully connected in a loving way to your own body moment to moment?

  • Are you disconnected?
  • Are you disassociated?
  • Do you refuse to send loving energy to every cell of your body? 
  • Are you angry at your body?
  • Are you furious at what your body is doing to you?

Each time you have those thoughts, they convey an energy to every cell of your body that is not in your best and highest good.

What happens when you touch yourself, when you hold own hands?  Is that done tenderly or is it done out of fear and anxiety?

What happens when you touch your knee?  Is that done with disconnection without any knowledge of the fact that you are touching your knee, or as you touch your knee with your hand do you do so with intention, love and compassion as loving energy is sent to each and every cell in your knee?

How we treat objects and how we treat other people, and quite frankly how they treat us is a mirror image of our relationship with our own body.  When we can become tender and loving and mindful of the messages that our body sends to us as we are touched moment by moment, by the sensations we receive and feel,

  • We will be in communion with our body.
  • We will be listening to the messages our body sends to us.
  • We will know what is required for us to move into a place of full recovery; a place where symptoms cannot rear their ugly head.

Once we are mindful and loving and attentive and appreciative of all the messages our body touches us with, we are solidly on the road to recovery.  When we remain detached, distant and uncommunicative with the messages that our body sends to us, we are out of touch. We are disconnected. In this  place of disconnection there is little opportunity for true healing to unfold. We become detached from the signals our body so desperately wants us to receive and acknowledge.

Get in touch with your body. Be receptive to its messages. Welcome them. They are giving you the information you need to take the steps that are needed for you to come into your full power and manifest your destiny.  The world is patiently waiting for you to show your full power.

Make it happen now. Be sensitive to touch. Be aware of the signals.  Become intimately compassionate with the moment to moment messages your body sends to you, for you are continuously in touch with your body whether you acknowledge it or not.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

Touch

My invitation for you this week is to become aware and sensitive of touch.

  • What does it feel like to touch objects?
  • What does it feel like to touch people?
  • What does it really feel like when you are “touched” by another person? 

Each time you are touched, whether it is simply because somebody brushed you by accident or somebody intentionally placed their hand on your shoulder,  become aware and sensitive to how it feels inside your body.  Does it feel:

  • Soft
  • Warm
  • Cozy
  • Loving
  • Tender

Or does the touch feel:

  • Abrasive
  • Aggressive
  • Sharp
  • Edgy
  • Unpleasant 

Each time you are touched, step back and pause for just five or ten seconds. Ask yourself,

“How did it feel when I was just touched by someone else?” 

Turn that assignment around and each time you touch either a person or an object, do the very same thing.

“How did it feel when I just touched someone else?” 

Do the same quick assessment when you touch objects:

  1. If you pick up a fork, how does the fork feel to you? 
  2. If you are washing a glass in the sink, how does it feel to touch that glass? 
  3. If you’re holding a book to read, how does the book feel to the touch of your hands? 
  4. If you are placing your hand inside the hand of another that you love, how does that feel at the moment when touch and contact is made?

For each and every physical contact that you make, pause ever so effortlessly and briefly. Acknowledge when you pause how it feels when either you are touched or you touch another object or another person.

Become mindful. Become aware each and every moment of each and every experience.

  • Is it tender?
  • Is it sweet?
  • Is it loving?

Or, is it so quick and abrasive that it is not even noticed?

Enjoy becoming aware of touch this week.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery