Blissfully blank

I think a lot. My mind is always going. Words and thoughts run and run and run through my head. When I’m in the shower, ideas come to me. When I run, I turn problems over in my brain.

Tuesday, when I went for a swim, I had a couple of problems I planned to think through as my arms turned over the laps. I figured, I think when I run. I think when I walk. I think when I sit. I think when I shower. I think when I eat. So, I’ll think when I swim.

I jumped in, and started swimming. I warmed up for a couple of laps, not thinking about anything. By the third or fourth lap, I thought, “Huh, I haven’t thought about anything. What was that thing I wanted to think…”

And it fizzled out.

On the next lap, I did it again. “Didn’t I plan to…”

Fizzle.

I swam a couple more laps. I tried a couple of times to think, but ended up just feeling the bubbles as I breathed. They vibrated a little bit against my bottom lip.

Didn’t think about anything.

Blank.

Bubbles.

Hungry.

I didn’t have a lot of thoughts, but I did have feelings on my swim. Surprise for not being able to complete a thought. Relief for the same. Joy for the freedom it brought.

And that led to the one complete thought I do remember from my swim: “Blissfully blank. I should write a blog post about this.”