Observation

I'm not all that observant. I guess I don't pay attention very well. My memory isn't what it used to be either. I think Patrick Jane on the Mentalist is cool. He's just basically super observant and has a good memory. Ross and I were walking to the grocery store the other day and saw the dentist's office. Neither one of us could remember if that had always been there or not. I also just block some things completely out of my mind. The parking lot of the grocery store has a Waffle House and a McDonalds in it. To me, the McDonalds doesn't exist. If someone asked me where the nearest Mickey D's was, I'd have no idea. When I visualize that parking lot, there's nothing where the McDonalds actually exists.

Self-observation is particularly hard. In yoga we are always being told to observe our breath. It is hard to just pay attention and not change the breath. Lately I've been trying to notice how I hold the steering wheel. It is hard to know what I normally do, because I'm thinking so hard about it I know I'm changing things.

Being observant is hard work.

In yoga last week the teacher was talking about the five spiritual elements in Buddhism. Two of them are mindfulness and focus. Those are two things that I really need to work on.