A Quiet Mind

I took another friend floating for the first time. Beforehand they asked me whether they should have anything to think about while in the tank, and I said that what works for me is to try to go in without any plan or expectation, and simply see what comes up.

After a stressful week of, among other things, trying to get a flat sorted, the hour I spent in the dark flew by, and once the ambient music signalling the end of the session started playing, I was surprised and completely unprepared for it. There had been a cacophany of thoughts occupying my mind at all times, with nary a quiet moment. It was useful to have the peaceful environment to try to work through and process some of it, but still, if that was how my mind was operating with all external stimuli removed, it showed that “back in the real world” there was an awful lot going on in my head.

When I got out, I began discussing our respective experiences with my friend, and asked if they minded sharing what they thought about. Their answer was that by and large they didn’t think anything; they’d followed my advice, and having gone in without an agenda, very little came up. They were able to quiet their mind seemingly at will, without having devoted thousands of hours of their life to meditation (or taken any kind of brain-altering substance).

Needless to say, I was painfully jealous.