The Falling Thing

The Falling Thing As your phone slips from your hand, your world shifts to slow motion. You cant name the intensity, but its so overpowering you can almost taste it as you reach for the plummeting device. Everything is more vivid: the colors are louder, the sounds are brighter, your movement, at least for this split second, mimics the grace of a ballerina. You are completely in the moment, alert, fully aware of the world around you as the gadget nosedives toward its cracked-screen fate. Then, suddenly, its over. You catch the phone at the last possible second, the panic subsides, and your world speeds up again, covering everything with an opaque layer of dullness, thrust into the prison of daily routine. In a meaningful way, you become less awareâ€"less free. But its possible to channel that same level of awareness on demand, isnt it? Instead of dropping the phone, we need only pause and intentionally slow down the world around us. Seeâ€"not just look at, but truly seeâ€"the colors in front of you. Listenâ€"not just hear, but actually listenâ€"to the sounds around you. Feelâ€"not just touch, but verily feelâ€"the ground beneath you. Breatheâ€"not just inhale, but really breatheâ€"the air around you. When we recapture this level of awareness, that is when we experience real freedom. This essay was also published in our side project, Minimalism Life. Subscribe to The Minimalists via email.