Escape the Mundane, for Just a Moment

And now for something completely different. I think you'll like it.

We’ve all been given lots of tips for how to reset our minds.  Meditation, exercise, yoga, etc.  Those are all great.

I’m hereby inviting you to try something completely different. Just for today. I’ll explain below. 

If you play I promise the game will be three things:

—

Quickly immersive

Fun

An unexpected brain reset

The Game is Simple:

Objective:  Allow your mind to flow where it will, without constraints or expectations.

Mechanism:  View an image and free associate.  You’ll get five unrelated images to play with.

Winning the Game: Imagine a dog getting to run around outside with no leashes or fences. That’s your brain, getting to do that!

Let your brain run free, and you’ll have won.

Getting on the Leaderboard (optional):  Share what happened. 

I’ll discuss sharing after you play. Let’s not worry about that just yet. It’s optional, after all.

Rules

1. View an image, and let your mind flow freely, without expectations about how or where it goes.  This is the most important aspect of the game. Your mind might wander in a meandering way, it might jump quickly around, or it might immediately land somewhere and stop.  Don’t try to control it! Let yours do whatever it does for each image and record your thoughts. You’ll finish when you’re finished.

2. Record without interrupting. This is a little bit like brainstorming. You’re just capturing thoughts, not synthesizing them. Make it as easy as possible to note a thought without blocking the next one from entering your mind.  Use pencil and paper. Or voice notes, or a transcription app.  You might have another way.  Just prepare your favorite mechanism before looking at the first image.

3. Do one at a time. After you flow through the first image, pause for a moment.  Set the completed image mentally aside before viewing the next one. Do a mental palate-cleanser for yourself. I’ve numbered them 1-5 and put space between each image so you can view each one in isolation.

4. Don’t think too hard!  I’ve already told you how to win. By thinking too hard you could actually, somehow, painfully and tragically lose the game! Don’t do it. There are no right answers so don’t look for them.  If it wasn’t already obvious, this game shouldn’t hurt.

OK then.

Are you prepared to record thoughts? 

Are you ready to unleash your mind?

You are. 

Excellent.

Let’s begin

.

.

.

.

.

.

1

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

2

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

3

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

4

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

5

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Finished? 

Then congratulations, you’ve won! Give yourself a nice, tasty biscuit and come on home.

OK, let’s talk about optional next steps.

Synthesis and Feelings

I’d told you not to synthesize before, but now, looking back, is there an overall “feeling” you would ascribe to each image?  Now that you’ve free-associated, if you didn’t already try to encapsulate your reactions, what would you say now? Did things coalesce in a particular way, or not? It’s perfectly ok if they did not. This isn’t a math equation, it’s about “feel.”

Where did your mind go along the way to wherever you landed?

Sharing

I think it’s great fun to see how different people experience things, so long as we’re not judgy. And you would never do that, right? Crazy talk. Why did I even bring it up.

Other readers might enjoy seeing how your inner dog ran around out there, as they think about where their own dog went running. So.  If you’d like to share your reactions in the comments section that would be a wonderful, generous thing to do.  You could share any small bit or a full journey through synthesis. Or just share what it was like to play.

If you do share, I suggest you share before viewing other comments.  Don’t let others influence your words, they weren’t running next to you.

Besides. There are no extra prizes for having particular reactions, whether similar or dissimilar to others’. I’m on a budget.

If you are curious about a gamut of reactions, maybe check back in a few days to see what has accumulated.

Extending the Game

Who else do you know that might want to play our little game? Nobody needs a subscription, everybody’s welcome. Invite folks to join the fun!

A Final Curiosity

After you return to your regularly scheduled programming, did this little break freshen or clear your mind at all?  Did it meet the three promises? I know that shifting gears at moments during the day is helpful for me.

That’s all for this week. 

May you be color blind, while seeing all the colors.