“The Secret Tuesday hat solving session is the best thing ever!"

– Secret Tuesday Participant

Secret Solutions

Every Secret Tuesday (or Secret Wednesday) we ask participants to put their problems in a hat and at the end (time permitting) we discuss mindful solutions for these anonymous problems. There's never enough time to cover them all, so here are some of the solutions for those that were missed. We've left the humorous ones in, so bring a heavy dose of textual irony where necessary.

Problem

“I've started to get very anxious in large groups of people and meeting a lot of new people at once."

– Secret Tuesday Participant

Solutions

• Have a few alcoholic drinks
• This solution might sound quite difficult at first, but basically; allow yourself to become curious about the anxiety process actually while it is happening. Break it down as follows: 1. What is your clearly enunciated thought? 2. What emotion are you observing? 3. What bodily sensation can you feel? Allow your curiosity to disrupt this process. Explore it in real time
• Find someone who feels the same way
• Picture everyone naked
• Observe the whole group as a chaotic mass that you have the choice of joining or leaving at any time

Problem

“Separating myself from work emotionally"

– Secret Tuesday Participant

Solutions

• My friend used to have a 'trigger' (aka a bugbear) about people putting their feet on the seats on public transport. During his sitting practice he observed this reaction with the knowledge of impermanence and always maintaining a position of equanimity. After a couple of weeks he was able to completely let this reaction go. A few weeks ago, this same friend was sitting in the quiet carriage when two enormous tough looking guys came in and started talking loudly to each other. Without a trace of emotion, he interrupted and politely pointed out that this was the quiet carriage. The two heavies looked at each other, got up and quietly left the carriage. He maintains that letting go of the emotional aspect made performing the request easier and made the request somehow more emphatic
• Insist on and adhere to complete work / life separation using the following guides: an eight hour day, an hour for lunch, change clothes when arriving home, have a shower when arriving home, turn work phone off on leaving work
• Recognise you don't know what's going on in anyone else head, but you can very clearly see what's going on in your own head

Tales from the Edge

Smashed and Calm

A close friend and I were walking through the suburbs of Salt Lake City in search of breakfast.

Stopped at a busy intersection, the pedestrian signal turned green and we started crossing the street.

“WATCH OUT!” My friend dove toward to the sidewalk. A large white passenger van, speeding to run the light, crunched and launched my body thirty feet and into the gutter.

“Ok,” I said to myself, "I’ve been hit by a car. I’m still alive. Shoulder feels dislocated. Head bonked good. Right. Let’s breath.”

Bleeding in the gutter and mindfully meditating, I watched the clouds until the paramedics scooped me up and into the ambulance.

During the rush to the hospital an EMT took my vitals. He gave me an odd look and took them again. He turned to my friend and said,

“I have never seen a trauma victim with a heart rate this low.” At the ER I stayed present to the sensations of five large staples entering my head.

Soon enough, they let me walk right out of there, but said I might consider looking both ways before crossing any streets.

written and experienced by Dallin Bruun - Mindfulness Instructor