Tiny Life Hack: A White Square
While visiting friends in Maine this weekend, I stumbled upon what might prove to be a useful morning hack for you. They’d taken down their bathroom mirror (presumably to replace it), and in its place was a big white rectangle with nothing on it. The first few times, I was disoriented, because I counted on the mirror to give me a quick glance at myself. By the third time, I’d found what makes for a nice focusing hack.
Stare at a square of white wall
This might be equivalent to what Zen wants you to do. I don’t know. I failed Zen, and the other Buddhist methods didn’t click well for me yet, either. But here’s what I did:
I just stood straight and tall, breathed slowly, and looked at the white square. At first, everything was a jumble, like spinning a radio dial and listening to just snips of conversation. But, when I worked at it just a little, I found that I could either break off certain “voices,” and that I could choose to “tune in” certain threads a little better.
What focused me most was asking myself a single question: “What matters?”
This gave me a great frame upon which to hang the goings on of the day, my emotions, and the state of things. Sure, things were hectic. Sure, I hadn’t had much sleep the night before. Sure, I knew that my projects were piling up in my absense, but when I asked myself what mattered, it was this: connect with our hosts, and really enjoy my family.
And that’s what I did.
Break it Down
- Stand up very straight, with your shoulders relaxed, before a square of white attached to a wall and look at it. (try posterboard from the local drugstore).
- Take a few deep breaths, slowly. Take a few more.
- Silence the “chatter.” Think of the white wall as much as you can.
- Ask yourself: “What matters?” (This is not the same as “What needs to get done?”)
- Listen to the response. Question it again.
- Ask again: “What matters?”
- Accept this answer and stare a while more. Just try to focus on the answer.
- Leave this space with that idea firmly in your head.
I’m not one for meditating, but this worked well for me over the weekend, and now I’m going to implement it at home.
What are YOUR thoughts on the matter? How do you get to the above state? Where’s your success?
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Comments
Gray Miller says on August 21st, 2006 at 11:44 am
Hey, I thought I was the zennish guy! That sounds like a great idea–one of my favorite roshi, Brad Warner, has talked about how the best focus for your eyes is a blank wall, but the white paper is useful.
Hmmm…I work in video, and one of the things we always do before a shoot is focus the camera on a square of white material and re-set the light sensitivity on the cameras. It’s called “white balancing”or ädjusting the white-balance. How about that for a name for your technique?
JoeBriefcase says on August 21st, 2006 at 12:28 pm
An interesting post. I actually did not fail Zen (altho perhaps we all do). I lived in a monestery for a year about two years back, and it’s true we sat facing the blank wall during the many hours of Zazen we did every day.
Strictly speaking, in Zen, you would not encourage any thoughts, even a good and productive one. A fantastic idea about “what matters” is just as much a thought as an anger impulse or a sexual desire and the purpose of Zazen is to label anything that comes up as thought and let it go… not pursue an answer of any sort.
It’s true you often have insights, but you are also often buzzing with trivial meaningless thoughts that come up from nowhere. The purpose of Zazen is to treat all those thoughts the same (as ultimaqtely without substance) and let them go back to where they came from without attaching.
I came up with ideas for screenplays, realizations about my life and health, fell in love and realized the nature of all art. I was taught that pursuing these things was not a good use of my time on the cushion and believe it or not I think it’s true. I could have determined while sitting that Einsten was wrong about Energy and Matter, and I still would have labeled it “thought” and let it go. That’s Zazen.
But this is Life Hacks, and not Life Hack Monestery, and I like the slant here.
Especially for Life Hackers, who are presumedly doing so many things at any given time, to simply look at nothing and just groove on a single essential question is an important and probably oft-overlooked practice. I do breathing excercises now what I am out of the formal Zen thing, and I spend that time - if it comes up - asking myself questions like this in very much the way you describe. I still prefer to let them go. If they are substantial, they will still be there later when I work on them in the proper place. “What Matters?” is a nice boiling down of an essential question.
We become experts at knowing our next action. But the bigger question of who we are and what we are doing sometimes is lost in the noise.
I have a number of painted canvases in my house that are a single solid color. I like them for the color they add to the walls when you are not really paying attention to them. But when I do pay attention to them, I like to look at them and let myself think of nothing… or if needed, something. I am no longer in the monestery, and sometimes I do allow myself to pursue insights and I think, perhaps out of habit after so many years sitting staring at walls, I have used my canvases in this way.
In Zen you are instructed to focus on a spot on the wall, but “don’t focus so well that it becomes interesting”. Blank canvas, of any color, sort facilitates that. We all have too much stimulation going on in our minds, and I would bet many of the readers of this site experience that even more than most.
If you want to do this and still have something on your wall that looks good, art stores sell pre made canvas, mounted on frames. They are pretty cheap, and actually look cool on your walls. Hell, in some galleries people are paying 6 figures for blank canvas.
Jennifer B says on August 21st, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Grab a friend. A book. Have the friend look intently but in a relaxed manner at an image that is very interesting to them while keeping the eyeballs very still. (motion of eyeballs is picked up) You relax and close eyes and blank out without looking at the page of the book. Possess an inner desire to read the page your friend is looking at. This is “setting instructions” and it must be an intent, not an internally uttered sentence. It’s like a full feeling strenthened with desire, not sheer will. The more focused and relaxed the better. After a few moment allow images to wander into view on the “screen” behind your eyelids. Allow yourself to observe shapes, colors. When you find yourself thinking return to being blank. Talk it out slowly as you go along in a relaxed manner and accept that you are simply observing and sharing it. If you feel it’s a test, return to the blank. If you start “second guessing” yourself return to the blank. If you feel silly, relax or just stop and do it another time. You will know when you know. It is your friends duty not to make noises. As you are speaking, your friend, (The sender) may choose to perfect the relaxed focus as the mind may wander. Look at the picture afterwards and discuss other details you sensed but perhaps did not say. Give yourselves a high five. Repeat for increased skill. NO need for a book either! You may receive feelings, colors, names, times, numbers, and sounds too. As long as it’s a strong image sent in a focused and relaxed way, it will transfer to the receiver’s blank. Note: ANYONE can do this if they want to. Pass it on with everyone you know. It’s also fun with strangers. EVERYONE can do this… If they want to. Now then. What can we do collectively with this?
Christopher Penn, Financial Aid Podcast says on August 22nd, 2006 at 9:13 pm
Try meditation from a ninja master!
http://skhquest.com/articles/howtomeditate.asp