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