The other day, I had a rather insightful experience. So I was visiting the barber for a routine haircut. While sitting on the chair, I realized that the only time I sit still for more than 30 minutes without checking my phone or overloading myself with information is when I am at the barbershop getting a haircut. In every other instance of my life, I am stimulating myself in one way or another. I am either reading content on Reddit, YouTube, Hacker News, or Instagram, or I am playing a video game or coding.

What was just a 30 minute haircut felt like an eternity, but in a good way. I thought about a lot of things; life, career, what I was going to do after college, college coming to an end, and many other things. They were rushing into my head as if they were restrained in my brain for far too long, and now they had this newfound freedom to occupy my mind. It was like a reality pull, grounding myself, asking myself realistic questions that I often avoid.

It felt good, great. I felt more at ease afterward. I felt like I should do this more often. But I never sit down and simply think. While at the hostel, I would sometimes simply sit and think, but this didn't happen that often either. One thing I enjoy about getting lost in my own thoughts is that I get most of my ideas when I simply sit and think like this. I remember this quote from Austin Kleon's book Steal Like an Artist: "Avoiding work is a way to focus the mind—Maira Kalman". I enjoy this and would love to practise this more. But in this fast-moving world where you have unlimited entertainment and information at your fingertips, it is often quite difficult for me to spend time sitting simply, without doing anything. It feels wrong for some reason. I feel like I am not being productive at all (which obviously isn't the case). I feel like I could gain something by not sitting idle and consuming something. When I do nothing, I feel guilty, which is a strange thought process that I am attempting to figure out.

I used to meditate while I was in my first year of college. Now I'm in my fourth year, and somewhere in between, I lost this habit. I remembered how good it feels to meditate. Often, people say that meditation is the act of not thinking at all. But for me, meditation is where I let my mind wander anywhere I like. Allowing it to be free, without resisting any thought, without judging any thought; an act of simply existing.

Getting back on track with meditation is hard. I did try to revive this habit quite a few times, but failed miserably every time I tried. Hopefully, I will be able to find a way to get back on track with meditation. Maybe I'll even write a blog on my progress. If possible, try this the next time you go for a haircut. Try to free your mind a bit, let it roam around. Kudos.