At Life Through a Prism

I find this Mindfulness Practice is a more accessible, open way of stepping back from a situation and gaining a sense of perspective. Often in a crisis, when we’re under pressure the stress can be overwhelming and we feel unable to act without reverting to what’s known or familiar. But just because it’s familiar doesn’t mean it’s helpful. For example, I might tend to over-rely on memory when I am performing a new task, whilst forgetting to adapt to a changing circumstances. Or when I’m in relationships I may judge or react to the people I love, based on experiences of past relationships. As well as choosing to play it safe, when I need to take a risk when an opportunity arises. Making such decisions can be fraught with anxiety and lead to errors or preconceived outcomes. So we tend to rely on a narrow vision of what’s possible; making binary choices or relying on black and white thinking, when we actually need to pause and reflect on our options. Being right, isn’t always the best strategy.

For this reason, I would like to recall a metaphor that seems fitting here. I imagine looking through a prism and watching a ray of white light refracted through a triangular lens into several waves of coloured light – each one representing the colours of the rainbow. This helps me realise there is very rarely one version of the truth, or that life is rarely characterized by decisions that are as simple as right and wrong. There are often multiple truths, many different sides to reality and a diverse range of viewpoints depending on the position I take. For example, you walk into the office late and your boss stares at you and says: ‘I need to see you later’. May be he wants to talk about your time-keeping. May be he wants an update on a recent project. May be he’s just taken an important phone call on your behalf. May be he wants to pass on a message from a colleague. But often you might jump to conclusions, such as: he wants to shout at you for being unprofessional and is going to fire you. So you get caught up in a cycle of anxiety and rather than imagine the alternatives. You get the idea.

There can be many different alternatives to one way of thinking under pressure and learning this is the purpose of the next exercise. As in most mindfulness practices first begin with your breath. Find your own relaxed rhythm by breathing neither too slow, nor fast, neither too deep, nor shallow. Ensure you are inhaling through your nose and exhaling from your mouth, breathing directly from your diaphragm. This means as you breathe your belly should push out with the in-breath and pull in on the out-breath. Try at first to focus your attention only on the sound and sensation of your breath. Do this a number of times until you have reached a point of continuity. Once you have found that point of singularity where it works, imagine you are walking in an open space. Remember, this exercise is to teach you to look for multiple possibilities and alternatives for a single conundrum. If you like it’s more of a thought experiment, than a puzzle. One you might find

 First, imagine as you are walking along you feel something fall on your head…in your mind’s eye visualize seven possible causes. Then, when you are done return to your breathing…

Second, imagine as you are walking along you step into something wet…in your mind’s eye envisage seven possibilities. Then, when you are done return to your breathing…

Third, imagine as you are walking along you glance at someone smiling… in your mind’s eye try to conjure up seven reasons why. Then, when you are done return to your breathing

Finally, imagine as you are walking along and you come to a door. You open the door and in your mind’s eye try to picture where you are going next. Then, when you are done return to your breathing…

This mindfulness exercise teaches you to tolerate uncertainty, change and It allows you not to seek black and white answers, or become defensive, needing to be right all the time, or constantly needing to fix other people’s problems, even the ones that can’t be fixed. It allows you to appreciate there may be many solutions to a problem, many sides to an argument, multiple points of view and many alternative choices when you’re confronted with a complex problem or an opportunity. Remember, limiting yourself to black and white certainties, only serves to cause blinkered vision and closed-mindedness. See also: My Life Is Spiralling Out of Control.