The challenge presented this week by Hannel was to look at a photograph for ten minutes, then during the 15 minute sit, visualize everything you saw in the photograph. Think of every wrinkle in the skin, every hair on the head and how the background looks.
Capture every detail in your mind and play over again during your sit. I had thought this would be achievable in the first go. After all, I have been meditating every day now for five weeks. Oh boy was I wrong.
This was a challenge! First, I did not take ten minutes to look at the photo, more like two minutes, thinking, “I got this.” But when I finally felt settled into my sit and attempted to replay that photo in my mind, it was quite blurry.
The colors weren’t quite showing up and it looked more like a black and white blob. I looked at a photo of the Oregon Coast. It ended up looking more like an abstract child’s painting of the ocean in my mind.
So maybe I am getting closer to being able to visualize, but not quite there. I will keep practicing. As we are learning, this takes work. Just like going to the gym to build our muscles, the mind needs time to grow too.
