Awareness

Photo: Nick Waplington

This is a photograph of Cornell University's cafeteria. One question you might ask yourself when looking at it is "Exactly how uncomfortable are those benches?" But I bet you didn't wonder "Was this the birthplace of the concept of quantum electrodynamics?" 

Author, artist, drummer, shameless flirt, and -- oh yeah -- Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman was in this dining hall in 1946 when the idea came to him:

"I was in the cafeteria and some guy, fooling around, throws a plate in the air. As the plate went up in the air I saw it wobble, and I noticed the red medallion of Cornell on the plate going around. I went to work out equations of wobbles... Then I thought about how electron orbits start to move in relativity. Then there's the Dirac Equation in electrodynamics. And then quantum electrodynamics. It was effortless ... It was like uncorking a bottle: Everything flowed out effortlessly. I almost tried to resist it! There was no importance to what I was doing, but ultimately there was. The diagrams and the whole business that I got the Nobel Prize for came from that piddling around with the wobbling plate."(Excerpted from "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!")

Don't worry -- I'm not going to delve into the subject of quantum electrodynamics (you can go here if you want to learn more). That's not the point I want to emphasize, nor is it the point Feynman wishes to make with this anecdote. But what I find interesting about his story is not merely that he was able to discover an essential and universal truth about the world around us just because someone was goofing off at lunchtime; it's the fact that he noticed the plate at all.

How often do you find yourself mindlessly going about your day, living your life focused solely on the task at hand, or filled with worry about any number of future tasks or potential stresses?

Now, what would happen if you became an active participant in your day? If you became fully cognizant of everything from the feeling of exquisite shock when moving from an unbearably sticky summer day into a deliciously air-conditioned building, to the metallic symphony of a city, to the small acts of genuine kindness that people commit daily but that usually go unnoticed and unappreciated.

It doesn't always have to be something profound:

I discovered this eggplant, which is basically the size of my head, at my local Trader Joe's. I was amazed and delighted by this massive veggie, which I might not have noticed if I were too intent on my mission to hunt and gather some milk from the refrigerated section (like they did in olden times).

And I can't tell you how many times I've been to this particular Trader Joe's without noticing the gorgeous and vibrant flower display they have right at the entrance:

I challenge everyone reading this to be more mindful as you go about the rest of your week. Granted, you may not discover the key to time travel or develop a new branch of mathematics or even find an unusually large piece of produce. But I can promise that, as you focus on the present and the incredible things surrounding you at all times, you will find creativity and inspiration around every corner.