Mindfulness

Walking the dawg today. I was quite happily pottering along with my camera, Ally sniffing along the way. I was aware of all sorts of things happening around me. Then I started thinking of a current “buzz word” in the counselling circles. It’s called Mindfulness. It’s one of these words that come into fashion, everyone uses it and then usually goes out of fashion. It is a technique that I have used for many years with my clients without having a name for it.

The idea is that you stay in the here and now and don’t disappear into your own head and thoughts. You consciously become aware of your surroundings, your body, what you can see, hear, smell, touch.

So as I was walking, I realised that I was doing “mindfulness” without even realising it. As I was walking, I was very aware at an unconscious level of my surroundings. I could hear the birds, and even spotted a caterpillar wandering along the path. The only problem was, as soon as I became aware of what I was doing, I was aware of doing it and it all felt different. I was consciously aware of my surroundings, rather than just enjoying them. Damn !!

I did however have a lovely walk. Took some great photos, and when I got home I thought I would write about all the things I noticed, simply by being in the here and now. It was quite amazing. Almost nice to realise what I was doing, but irritating that my brain put it into a counselling technique rather than just enjoying the moment.

Anway, in the space of about 45 minutes, this is what I noticed.

Planes taking off. We are quite close to the airport and often will hear the planes taking off and landing. I’ve got some really nice photos from that spot.

Birds in the trees. Dusk. Birds are getting ready for bed and are quite social at this time of the day. They fly from one tree to the next. Chat to their mates. Argue with each other. There are quite a number of different birds that hang around there.

Caterpillar. I was rather intrigued by him. He was moving so fast that some of the pictures were fuzzy. Here he (she?) is:

Kids and families on bikes. There was a whole family, mother, father, and a couple of kids. The first kid almost ran her over. She wasn’t quick enough getting out of the way. Usually she comes to me when I call her and tell her to “come over” a couple of words she understands.

Helicopter. Saw this one coming and then going. I’ve no idea where it was going or coming to, but....

Ally sniffing.

Ally just wanders at her own pace. Sometimes behind me; sometimes ahead of me. Not normally this far ahead.

If you look carefully, you can see her near the sign. As I said, she doesn’t normally get that far ahead of me.

Other people and their dogs. This is a favoured place for walking the dogs. Near the river for those who like to swim and lots of smells, plenty of room to run and chase for those inclined.

Sunset. I’ve seen better. But not bad. Also interesting to see how the sunset was reflecting in the water.

Man showing a kid what he’d caught fishing. I never did find out what he had caught, but the boy and his parents were busily looking into the man’s bucket with much interest. I thought about asking if I could have a look too, but decided not to.

Bird sunning itself. There is one particular bird that can often be seen here, wings spread, drying itself before going to bed for the night. This bird is unusual as it’s feathers are not waterproof, unlike most waterbirds.

She must have finished drying and preening for the night. Usually I find them with their wings spread.

Clouds. Lots of clouds. Often Perth gets quite boring with lack of weather and constantly blue skies. Boring, you might say. Blue sky, boring !! Yes. All summer. Blue sky. No change in weather except to go from hot to hotter. Boring !!

Moon. Near the end of my walk, the moon started to become visible. I thought this one turned out rather nicely. A bit of cheese anyone. Don’t think I can see the man in the moon.

Houses across the river. Across the river is very expensive real estate and you can tell by the size of the houses and the looks of them.

Speed boat and 2 kayaks. The boat was coming quite quickly and I think one of the kayakers wasn’t quite happy as she pulled right over to the bank of the river until the boat’s wake had subsided. The boat was going quite fast until it saw the 8 knots sign. Then they slowed down. There has been a lot of damage to the banks of the river here, mainly because of speedboats hooning.


The rocks submerged by the high tide. The river was quite high today. Sometimes I sit on these rocks. But not today. Not without getting my bottom very wet.

Foam in the water after the speedboat had passed. The water looked like someone had put washing up liquid in the water.

And last but not least:

A little yellow baggie of dog poo at the side of the path. For some reason, people seem to pick up their dog poo, very tidily, with the little yellow bags available at the start of the walk, but somehow seem to think they will magically disappear if they leave them behind.

Not bad for 45 minutes or less. Even if I was aware of my own awareness.

Madeleine

Sunday, 11 May 2008