Where Does the Blind actually Lead the Blind?

I challenged myself to a very different experience today... I went to my aqua aerobics class this morning, with my favorite instructor (she has a great sense of humor and fun music choices!) as I often do on Tues. mornings, but this time my mind created a challenge for me, off of my own more tuned-in powers of observation.   I have always admired this particular woman in the class, whose upbeat sense of humor and over-all good nature seem to beam brilliantly, despite her obvious impediment of being blind.    I am in awe of how she can negotiate her way by herself, independently taking care of finding her way and following all the verbal cues of the water instructor.

So I decided to put myself in her place, so to speak, and only to a point of course, and I closed my eyes and tried to follow the class.   I listened as intently to the instructor's cues, and though I thought I was paying close attention, I often found myself starting the exercises one way, but soon changing my actions as I figured out what she was really telling us to do.   It is so intriguing how my 'listening' wasn't really as good as I thought it was.    I would follow her cues as I understood them, only to realize that I had not interpreted it correctly at first, and them had to adjust.   Sometimes I just assumed I knew what she wanted us to do, and only after needing to rely solely on what I heard in order to accomplish the moves, I would let go of my assumptions and 'listen' more intently.   I was slower to accomplish what she was telling us to do, because I found myself constantly readjusting to some new piece of information I had just noticed.

I felt like I truly was in a shadow world.    Eventually, true to my sun-loving nature, I found myself turning toward the corner window where I could feel the sunshine.   There were 7 posts in the window and it curved in an arch. ( I peeked.)    As I faced the sun every once in a while I would lose the sunshine, either behind a post or behind the top arch of the window.   This made me experiment with moving my own body to try to recapture the sunlight.    It fascinated me to notice how each subtle movement changed the feel of the sunlight, and sometimes tiny movements were enough to reclaim the sun, while other times I had to work hard to find where the sun had gone.    It was a fascinating dance.

I was in deep water... I like to do this class in the deep water, so, since I'm not anchored, I would often find myself moving through the water as I did the exercises.   I like this feeling of 'dancing,' but noticed the extra challenge it offered by needing to try to avoid other people or the edge of the pool.   I was amazed that I couldn't always tell where I was in the pool, and a few times came quite close to bumping into other people.

All in all it was a fun experiment, and gave me even more respect for this wonderful blind woman of character.

Then I paid closer attention to how the rest of the day progressed, maybe because of this experiment. I have heard that it is good to change the way in which you do something, some small thing, so that you are out of your comfort zone and calling upon other senses and skills to manage.    Like maybe write with your off-hand (for me the left one).    I remember even seeing in a movie once a man who used a blindfold while he was eating, as a way of losing weight, causing one to pay closer attention to the taste, smell and feel of the food and one's reactions to the food.    Well, the rest of my day was amazing - who knows, maybe because I 'mixed things up' a bit.    I enjoyed my colleagues company so much more, noticed more affirmations come my way, found myself more open to new changes, and so on....

I remembered a photo I took  a few days ago, before the snow, that was really quite striking.   It was really quite surreal  -  "do do do do" - because it so perfectly matched my experiment with darkness and the sunlight and seeing things differently.

What if you were to do one ordinary thing today, in just a slightly, but very awkwardly different way?        


What would it be?      


What might you learn from the experience?     


How would it affect your day? 
Your frame of mind?    


What insight might you stumble upon?


As for me, this is an experiment I hope to repeat quite often, and see where it leads me, and toward what new insights. This blind woman lead me to see things in new ways, and that is one of my favorite things to do!       

 Have Fun!