I chose to
practice the iExamen this past Saturday, and was surprised by how little I had
to change to notice so much more about the world around me. My first
interaction of the day was meeting with a family who a professor of mine had
put me in contact with, who were looking for a mentor for their grandson, Colin,
who has an autism spectrum disorder. After telling them about my background and
experience, and discussing their goals for their grandson, whom they were the
primary guardians of, they left for a few hours to allow me to spend some time
connecting with Colin. This was not my typical babysitting or tutoring job, and
required a great amount of effort in understanding the little boy’s needs and
feelings, it was tiring, but was made worthwhile at the end of our visit, when
he asked his grandparents if I would be able to come back, and how soon.
I hopped in
my Uber back to campus feeling very satisfied with myself for being offered a
weekly job working with Colin. Typically, in Ubers I sit in the back, catching
up with whatever I’ve missed since last checking my phone, but remembering my
assignment for the day, I decided to start my device-free hour. To my surprise,
the driver was playing an all too familiar song, a cover of “Firework” by Time
for Three, a string trio that specializing in classical covers of pop music, I
really enjoy their arrangements, but have never met anyone else who listens to
their music for fun. My driver seemed just as surprised as I was that I
recognized the piece, and we spent the next ten minutes discussing music, what
types of music we enjoyed, what types of music we played, how we both came from
very musically-centered families. I have had a lot of interesting Uber
conversations, but this was by far one of the best, and I would not have had
this conversation, had I not recognized the music that was playing, which I
would not have recognized, had I stayed lost in my phone.
When I
returned to campus I had a good amount of time to spare before heading to the
movies with a friend, so I decided to spend the remainder of my phone-free hour
with my roommate. As we normally do when we want to have a good talk, we
grabbed a pack of cigarettes to lightly and angst-ily puff at the picnic tables
outside of the building while playing pseudo-indie music. We’d both had a
hectic week or two, so it was nice to catch up and talk about anything and
everything going on in our lives. A while later, my friend passed by, looking
to hang out before we left for the movies, so he joined us, listening to music,
puffing cheap cigarettes, sometimes talking sometimes just listening to music.
Around the
same time, I realized my phone-less hour was up, I also realized we missed our
movie! It was dark out now, so we returned to our room and eventually broke out
the guitar and ukulele. We took turns playing our favorite songs badly, and
singing out of tune, occasionally I would close my eyes and just appreciate the
themes in the songs the other two chose, listening to the words and
understanding why they liked them so much; after a while I fell asleep on the
couch.
I wasn’t
sure exactly how I was going to change my routine while I practiced the
iExamen, but I felt like I knew the results I wanted (being more aware, more
appreciative, etc.), and felt that I would just change what I did to get those
desired results. I ended up going about my day mostly the same, just taking an
extra second or two to every once in a while, to take stock of my surroundings,
but did not feel much different by the end of the day. I think the biggest
surprise was that this morning, I was still reflecting on my day yesterday, and
how even today I’m a bit more observant. I think the biggest things I learned
are that I don’t need to change what I do, and that being more reflective and
aware won’t make me feel or act significantly different, but will make me want
to reflect even more, so I can continue to notice things I wouldn’t have
otherwise.
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