Step 1 and Life

[Amberlyn <amberlyn@...>]

Hi!

Has anyone else noticed how the Step 1 mental exercises seem to spill over 
into everyday life?

I have long used shower time to contemplate things going on in my life, but 
now, the stream of thoughts roll slowly by, somewhat like a menu on a 
monitor. I can choose one, and fall into a "point-priority" focus (I am 
after all, washing myself <g>). When I am done with that topic (often 
receiving resolution or insight), I can return to the "menu" and choose 
another. Meanwhile, I use a loofa soap to scrub down and open my pores, and 
when I have finished bathing, I turn the water down to very cool (it is, 
after all frigid, outside), and rinse off everything that bubbled to the 
surface while doing the mental exercises. My skin feels keenly alive after 
this.

At the movies this week, I found myself falling into a point-focus (I 
think). There were two noisy teenagers immediately in front of us. They 
were beginning to get really annoying, when the movie started. I focused on 
the screen, taking it all in, and tuning them out. Sometime later I noticed 
the teenagers were gone, and I turned to my husband and asked when they 
left. I had not noticed their departure *at all*, even though they had 
flung their coats on, obscuring vision. I mean first they were annoying me 
and then *poof* they weren't there. (Now, if I can only learn to tune out 
snores <g>.)

Riding (NOT driving) in a car, I can tune out the radio and then the rest 
of the world and zone out, not thinking at all. I see the landscape rushing 
by, but am not concerned with it at all. I am then in a state of just BEing.

Anyway, none of these experiences seemed to be consciously evoked. They 
just happened (all, that is, except the cool water rinse in the shower). I 
find this curious, but very pleasant.

Amberlyn