The light can shine from a doorknob!
OK you’re thinking Mick has lost the plot…. he’s talking about door knobs and sanity, two subjects that surely don’t belong in the same post!
But wait…. it’s not as crazy as it sounds.
How many times do you put your hand on a doorknob in any day? Interesting question isn’t it, I bet your mind is now trying to fly through a day doing a quick tally of how many times you open a door.
OK OK… but what has doorknob got to do with my sanity you’re asking?
Well that depends. If you are prepared to STOP for a second or two everytime you put your hand on a doorknob it could have a LOT to do with your sanity.
The doorknob was deliberately chosen because it is something that we frequently touch yet put little thought into. It is precisely these things that offer us a chance to become more mindful and to create a moment of calmness and clarity many times over during our day.
A doorknob for a moment of clarity.
If every time we put our hand on a doorknob throughout the day we pause, take a deep breath, relax our shoulders and briefly examine what is rushing through our heads, and ask ourselves a couple of quick questions we have an opportunity to take part in many mini meditations everyday.
What Questions?
The questions can be tailored to meet our individual needs but a good starting list of questions are:
What am I feeling right now?
Why am I feeling like this?
What am I about to do?
What is my intention on going through this door?
Who am I going to meet on the other side of the door?
Am I ready to really “meet” with them, and give them my FULL attention?
Other options?
The other option is to simply take the moment to relax yourself to take that deep breath, relax the shoulders, pull your posture up a bit straighter and experience the calmness that this brings, and carry that with you through the door and into the next part of your day.
The Challenge!
I dare you to take the doorknob sanity test. Choose a time-frame, a day or week and every time you put your hand on a doorknob do one of these mini meditations…. You never know you just might find that like in the picture for this post the light CAN shine from a doorknob!
creative commons image in this post by Dospaz