I spent four days this week ruminating on an exchange with someone in my professional network that bothered me greatly. Four full days. I even wrote a Tiny Story about it but ultimately decided not to share it. The rest of the week I spent writing Tiny Stories that were mostly acts of mediation, not rumination. I needed a break from all the thinking.
What is the difference between rumination and meditation? Put another way, what is the difference between thinking about something and paying attention to it? Why should we care? Rumination is about turning something over in our heads. It is about thinking deeply. I do this at work all day. Many of us do.
Mediation, on the other hand, is about watching something without any attachment to the result. Maybe you learn from watching and maybe you don't. At the very least, paying attention to the world around us enlivens us. This is what writing does for me: it makes me feel more alive. I find a small moment and I zoom in. It soothes me.
What roles do "thinking" and "paying attention" play in your life? Do you do more of one than the other? Has the ratio of one to the other changed as you've gotten older? Think of one moment this week where you just observed what was happening around you. For me, it was my daughter rushing outside to watch the sunset.
Read on to see more of my tiny moments, and try to relish your own.
I hope you enjoy this week's installment of Tiny Stories for The 100 Day Project:
Happy Birthday, Mom!!!
Until next time...