Log in to become a member of Robin Brown's Fan Club!
Wow! I just freaked myself out! If you want to go on a journey, you’d better sharpen your mind a bit before entering this one. Alright, here we go! I pulled out my journey to begin my day and I began writing today’s date like I do everyday before I begin writing in my daily journal. I flipped back one page to see yesterday’s date so I would subsequently know today’s date... makes sense, no? The first thing I see at the top of yesterday’s journal entry is... Saturday? I’m like... wow! TODAY is Saturday... how could I have already written anything on Saturday when it’s 7:00am on SATURDAY!? I haven’t written anything today... it’s only 7:00am on Saturday! Wow! (I had to say that twice!) I was momentarily existing in the Twilight Zone or the fourth dimension or some where like that! Let me explain... I usually write every morning. I have just had my work schedule shift from nights to days. So, for past three mornings, I went to work instead of going to the coffee shop to write. This past Sunday and Thursday morning writing sessions where written outside my journal and not in this journal due to me forgetting to bring my journal with me to the coffee shop on those two days. I must also include the fact that I am pretty consistent day to day with my journal writing, believe it or not! I have usually not been as consistent with writing in my past journals as I have been with this one. So, I have been sub-consciously conditioned to accept the fact that I write everyday in my journal. Imagine my mind set, sitting down at my coffee shop and opening my journal to locate the end of yesterday’s journal entry. I am going through this procedure while attempting to think what day it was so, I could begin to print the day, the month and then the year, underline it and begin my writing process. Are you still with me? These processes have developed into mostly sub-conscious practices. The consistency of day by day practice creates a conditioning process we are not really conscious of. Process, process, process... do I not use that word “process" to the bone... to help me hone my skills when left alone? Yeah, no doubt... I think I do overuse that word and concept for everything I speak and write about. This process is a process to create a process to process
another process right after that process of process... it’s just a process of process creating another process!
It might be time to process THIS process by releasing this process from my own process to create a whole new process without having the process becoming unconsciously processed. We merely accept what we do sub-consciously as we become more and more behaviorally conditioned to perform a particular task... whatever it may be... from playing chess to trying to locate yesterday’s date... just so you can know what date it is today!
Try to understand the content of this mundane situation and then put yourself in my position to go through the experience yourself. Try it! You open up your imaginary journal, locate the end of the last writing entry... meanwhile you are attempting to think which day it is... today. It’s Saturday. You do not consciously realize the last entry date was exactly one week ago on the 18th. Swoosh! That goes right over your head momentarily while you’re thinking... o.k., it’s Saturday. You flip back to today’s entry point and begin thinking and determining that yesterday’s perceived day was Saturday... so it must be Sunday today, right? Wrong! Today is Saturday! How could I have already written something on Saturday when today is Saturday and I haven’t written a single word yet? Or have I? I flip back the page to the last entry date... again... just to confirm that it actually read... Saturday! It does! It checks out! It’s confirmed because it reads... Saturday! You may well be laughing right now at my perceived stupidity... but if you were sub-consciously conditioned to follow these writing habits day in and day out... you would just trust your process and not doubt that one particular day followed the next. You are now conditioned to believe THAT!
Well, until Salvador Dali throws open the door to surreal appeal... to reveal an unreal ordeal which seems ideal and truly real at the exact moment you realize... o.k., how can it be Saturday when yesterday was already Saturday! The shit’s surreal!!! Your mind has now moved to your second line of verification... the actual numerical date on the previous entry! You flip back the page... again... and see... the 18th. O.k., I got it! So... now you’re thinking... “what number is actually classified as today’s date?" You think... wow! You’re a bartender... you don’t deal in sub-conscious numerical dates... you deal in the days of the week to classify information more so than... say long term numerical dates. You don’t tell yourself... I work on the 5th, 6th, 9th and the 11th of this week. No... you say... I work Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday... and every other Friday? I get my pay check! That’s it! My mind has never traveled this type of timeless journey before... so, I was in was virgin territory for surrealism to tip toe in and display dripping clocks, rocks and peacocks on hemlock! And then it hits you! It’s Saturday all right... but it’s Saturday the 25th not the 18th! Wow! Your now sitting there alone thinking... wow! What happened to the whole last week of my journal? Salvador Dali stops... slowly turns and whispers... “Welcome to where I live without reason or rhyme! Have a good Saturday... I’ll see you again, sometime." And I’m like... WOW! Dali then slowly closes the door behind himself as he leaves without a fear. You stroll over to the window to watch him watch his watches disappear... it seemed so strange... it seemed so queer... but you know that sooner or later it should appear more clear as you grab another beer! And of course, you understand that Dali is utilized as a metaphor here!
Robin J. Brown has been published in the book anthology titled, ‘‘The Real Meaning of Life’’ and in the book anthology, "Names in a Jar" A Collection of Poetry by 100 Contemporary American Poets. “Secrets of the Mind" is a collection of his lyrical poetry to music which can be heard at www.umarain.com
This author of this Article has choosen to make this article available with free reprint rights. Click here to copy this article.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
