One of the things that we humans are very uncomfortable with is uncertainty. We will go far out of our way to try and control situations so that we don’t have to face that uncomfortable feeling of not knowing what is coming next. But something is always coming next. So we practice the idea of focusing on what we can control. Our reactions to the external. How we perceive what the situation and see it for what it really is, and not what we hope it will be. Well tonight, I found a great way to practice this art in the most unlikely of places. A bubble bath.
I have a five year old daughter who loves to give people makeovers. So tonight when she asked me if I wanted a bubble makeover, I said sure. But these games have rules. She asked me to sit right at the edge of the tub and lean in and promise not to open my eyes until she was done. So I did.
And then she proceeded to take the bubbles from the bath and put them all over my head and every part of my face. And with my eyes closed I had no idea what was coming next. I could smell the scent of the bath and I could hear the tiny bubbles breaking apart as she ran her hands through the mountain of bubbles and scooped them up, but I could not see them coming. And each time a handful of bubbles landed on my face, my nervous system would react violently. So I practiced breathing. And eventually I was able to react less and accept more. Even when she covered my nose and mouth, I just breathed slower and let the bubbles go in and out and in and out. By the end I was meditative.
I wish I practiced these kinds of things more often. Opportunities like this surround us. We just don’t always take the time to see them. To use them as practice. To feel what it’s like to know that something is coming and when it arrives, we will react less, and accept more.
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