How did my stone balancing journey begin?
I am a now a professional artist. But about a decade ago, I went through a difficult time. I had seen someone balancing a rock at the beach while out walking to clear my mind. I wondered if anyone could do it, or whether it required a magic skill. It turns out that anyone can do it. It just takes determination. Or “Mind over matter” as we often say.
I found a lovely pebble and took it home to try. After a lot of trying, I eventually succeeded. What a great feeling that was, the very first time! I carried on from time to time, getting the feeling of success each time. That never really wears off. But I was never aware of my mental state, although time appeared to fly by when I did it.
Go forward a decade, and three further life changing events came my way in quick succession. I started doing more balancing as a diversion when I was out walking on my own. I had been playing with mindfulness for a while, but it was very difficult to switch off into the state required, that’s even if you understand what’s expected! Concentrating on your breathing or watching a candle flame flickering is very difficult. You don’t really understand why you are doing it, and it’s easy to get distracted. For me, I struggled with the idea, despite trying at different times.
One day, I was on the beach and I started balancing some stones. I thought I would record the waves splashing onto the beach while I mucked about so I could have some nice sounds of the sea for later. About ten minutes elapsed, and I had balanced the stone successfully, to my great joy. It was quite difficult because it was windy!
I stopped the recording, and I left the stone to nature to knock it over. When I got home, I listened to my recording. I realised that it was really over 30 minutes in length! I had created a time warp in my mind!
The penny dropped, and I realised that I had been meditating actively. Psychologists now call this “flow”.
