Observations of a Crowded Tube Journey

Waxed leather pants, big headphones and rather clumsily and haphazardly  steps a girl tangled in her headphones. She untangles her headphones from the pole, tries to cool herself down and settles into reading her book titled 'wine, wealth and the state in late antique Egypt'. She reminded me of the an older version of the girl in Hugh Grants About a Boy. The punk girl, that the young boy had a crush on.

Next to her is an African kid, again earphones in and his feet are tapping away with his green sneakers, on the crowded tube floor. A well dressed man in a suit beside him tries to move his feet away. He notices me looking and then I feel uncomfortable. An older gentleman steps on, he is wearing a black fedora like hat and a pink shirt and blazer (with trousers too).

I am observing, trying to be mindful and being conscious of it too. It is interesting what you normally miss as you have your music plugged in and gaze fixed at anywhere that isn't in someone else's line of sight for the fear of making eye contact in our contactless transport system. 

I for one know how catastrophic it feels to travel a journey without any music in tow and thoughts to follow. 

I'm reading a book. Well, I am reading a book, but also some readings, notes, materials and sometimes I am just reading my thoughts over. My yoga course is reinviting me into the realm of mindfulness, the study and application of this by the nature of what it is and means to be aware. Aware of your senses, your surroundings, your body and simply, (or not), aware of you. Who you are now. To switch off from the sufferings of the past and the angst of the future and to be present for brief moments and sustain this. It's definitely not easy. It's interesting though to observe the things you would normally miss in your routine. Observe, without analysing. I'm noticing more, I always hear and see but I don't always understand. Well maybe not entirely accurate! Anyway, I'm learning that I don't need to. There is plenty of grey matter in this world and not everything can be explained in words. So many words. So just observe for some brief moments and enjoy. 

For an already analytical mind, the analysing of being present and mindful is seemingly detracting from the philosophy of this notion! But. It was fun to look around at the many walks of life on a crowded tube. People that you would not encounter on your day to day and people that you have a chance to.

I find myself making an effort to engage in more conversations with random people of late. For curiosity's sake. An old lady in an antique shop, where did she get all her stock from. Turns out she was part Swedish and having an ageing aunt made numerous trips back home in the past few years and picked up a lot of things from her hometown, alongside with France travel for the flea markets. I felt I had something to contribute on this point and shared my favourite antique cities and markets in France. She wanted to talk more, she wanted to share her stories and I wanted to listen. Alas I have class. I promise I will be back. I wonder how many people actually visit her store and stay for awhile. 

The two random strangers at the 5 mile mark during the Royal Parks Half Marathon who asked me if I was on pace. Sure, I said, I have 7, no, 8 miles to go (who's counting). He had sore nipples and needed some Vaseline but he was on track. Made me laugh and forget about those miles as I carried on. 

The lady who stopped me as I was walking to paddington to ask if I had run the half marathon and congratulate me for doing so. It was such a simple gesture. 

I guess you never really know the impact of what you do on someone else's day. Small actions, gestures and conversations may be all that was needed to bring a smile to someone. 

So try it, look around and speak to people, you never know what interesting things you might find out, or prefer not to know. You never know what it could mean for them. Either way, you will likely learn something new or see something with fresh eyes. Or simply, you paying attention might have made their day.

Signing off,

Confessions of a thinkaholic/talkaholic

surrounded by words.