What exactly should I do in those 9 seconds?
At a minimum, three things:
- stop what we are doing at that moment (as long as that is easy and natural; no need to stop driving your car or stop having a conversation);
- focus on your next breath (doesn’t have to be extra deep or slow, but shouldn’t be shallow);
- write down a few words, or at most a short sentence, whatever spontaneously comes up (keep a journal for this, a small notebook or computer file).
Besides these three, it would be good to keep the notion of Play as Being in mind as well, in a very loose way.
Can I spend more than 9 seconds?
Oh, sure, however long you like. But I may be better to keep it really short, otherwise it is unlikely to be sustainable in the long run. The advantage of just one breath and just a few words jotted down is that such a 1% time tax can never become a burden.
What should I do in the remaining 891 seconds?
Here is where the notion of Play as Being comes in. Initially it is sufficient to remind yourself of this idea during the 9 second interval. But gradually you may find that the idea of playing as Being pops up in your mind at random times outside the 9 seconds as well. Ideally, the notion that we can play as if we are Being will take on its own life. And we will find that while we are playing as being Being, Being may show us how it is playing as being us. But this cannot and should not be forced. Much better to just keep the idea of play as Being in mind, loosely, as a background taste, or as something to naturally fall back on — like someone really drawn to a hobby, or someone who has fallen in love, or someone deeply puzzled by some as yet unsolved problem.
Why should I do the 9 seconds?
If just the idea of doing them as a thought experiment is not enough reason, here are some common practical benefits we have noticed.
- Universal alarm clock. Set an alarm for every 15 minutes and it will become a natural break during which you can remember things you need to do. Many of us rarely late because of "I forgot" anymore. (http://www.mindfulnessdc.org/mindfulclock.html)
- Also doubles as a typing break.
- Many people find it noticeably easier to stay calm and composed after just a few days.
- The perfect excuse for spending a total of few minutes less time working during the workday. Long term, it's likely to improve your overall productivity.
Is this something anybody could try out on their own?
The practices discussed in Play as Being groups can be life-changing--as can be the reading of a good poem, watching a good movie, having a
really good talk with a good friend. It seems that the wonderful
support structure that PaB has built up in just a few months is what
makes it so powerful. But the "power" of the support is a gentle power.
Group members in general have a deep willingness to help and share, a
willingness to listen to each other. That may lead to PaB participants
re-evaluating their lives, looking with new eyes at the world, asking
critical questions about assumptions they may have held onto for a long
time: marvelous!!
That is not to say that we are a therapy group. Exploring reality does not mean that we want to take over the role of therapists or psychiatrists. If someone really feels disturbed, the proper thing to do is to get help in the Real World. We cannot carry the kind of responsibility that a psychiatrist or therapist would take on. We do not even carry the responsibility that a meditation teacher would take on. We are not advocating or guiding any particular kind of detailed mediation of any system, and nobody among us acts as a leader or guru, ordained in any specific system. Instead, we are a democratic peer group of friends, working in the spirit of the open-source movement and of science in general, and we are comparing notes with each other.
To sum up, our mission is to explore reality. As a community, we are developing strong forms of bonding between members, which is a wonderful thing, both in itself and as a means to help our exploration. As such, there is ample room to help each other as friends--not as teachers or therapists. Where strong friendships do not suffice to help someone with persistent anxieties, professional help is probably in order, something that PaB was never meant to provide.