A Still Pond

This is about one of the activities we did in that nature program I went to over the summer.

The first evening, our group went down to the Lotus Lake, and we all sat on the bank with some distance between us. We each had seven pebbles in our hands. Our orders were to focus on the lake. And every time we found our mind wandering, we threw a pebble into the water. The ripples are supposed to symbolize the disturbance in our thoughts.

(This is the pond, near where we were sitting. The really big lotuses were across the lake from us).

Admittedly, I'm not sure if I had the right idea. I did focus on the lake the whole time. I looked at the water, the minnows, the frogs, the lotus flowers, the grass, the bug shells clinging to the grass, and so on. I looked close enough that everything me was fascinating. So, my mind wasn't exactly still, but it didn't go off topic. And I did think about the rocks in my hand a few times, because it's hard to not think of something you're holding. I'm not actually sure if that counted, since the pebbles were from the lake bank.
I'm not positive, but I think I may have been the only person in the group to have not lost any stones. One person seemed surprised that anyone could have any stones left.

In one of Joseph Cornell (Bharat)'s books, they talked about some teachers who were part of a similar program. They were told to look at a tree and raise their hands if their mind strayed. Within a matter of seconds, all of their hands were up.

It's kind of strange how our society seems to make it so difficult for us to focus on things. We can't stay concentrated on what's in front of us without worrying about homework, a meeting, lunch, or a TV show.
And like I said, my mind is hardly calm. My thoughts are all over the place most of the time. I still rather suck at meditating. XP
And I doodle during class a lot. If I didn't have an entire lake to visually explore, I probably wouldn't have kept my stones for very long.
But quieting our mind can really help to let us find solutions to a lot of problems. And get rid of stress and anxiety and such. That's one reason why meditation is supposed to be so helpful. Though for me, meditation just helped me improve my posture a lot...