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I remember an instance when I was playing the piano. Suddenly the touch of the keyboard on my fingertips turned into something special. I was feeling the heaviness of the piano key stronger. I was more conscious of the motion which had to be made by my hand. This shift in perception made the exercise more enjoyable. Soon after, I started to catch more of those touching experiences. A doorknob felt heavier, the computer keyboard was giving me meditative calmness, and the car’s gearbox had a specific feeling into it as well. I began a play of remembering how the objects from my surroundings feel. That became a part of my everyday experience.
If we zoom out from this specific touching example, we can observe a broader pattern here – people can develop connection to certain types of experiences over time. Those situations have something shared. In my case, it was touching that constituted a common denominator. Along with building connection to something, people create a particular meaning around those experiences. Those instances become a part of their day. They appear cyclically, interchanging with day routines.
For an artist, these experiences constitute a genuine creative material. They are sparks which surprise throughout the day. They can shift one’s state of mind allowing a new mental space to emerge. Enjoying these moments and then bringing them back and adding to the state which was present before is an act of creation. Those spontaneous moments can be thought of as leverage points (from system’s theory). One does not need a distraction from a difficult emotion anymore because he remembers that those rewarding, and still integrated, sparks will appear substituting an addictive behavior. Reality becomes fulfilling without a need for an intentional intervention. That, which appears is what one wants.
There is a kind of a meditation experience in which the separation between two parts of the body disappears. To give an example, if someone has his hands intertwined, as is recommended by many spiritual schools, he may start to lose a sense of feeling the left hand by the right one. They merge together.
It is interesting how the perception in general can change throughout one’s life. I remember a period when I started to feel the smell of my fingers and the fingers’ nails differently. They were bringing about beautiful flavor. Before, I perceived my body scent neutrally. I combine this change of perception with positivity and consciousness which are growing within me. I honor my body more now. Also, there is an identification at place, and a compulsive tendency apparent out here – sometimes I smell my nails as a reaction to stress.
One example of touch can be an intimate contact. I’m not, though, talking about physically touching each other. Rather, what seems more interesting to me is the psychological touching, the spiritual touching. In other words, emotional intimacy. Physical proximity evokes more unconscious psychological material to enter consciousness. While being together, both partners are aware of their personal interpretations and feelings. Not always everything is touched by the partner. Sometimes some parts of oneself stay within the boundaries of the person. As time passes, some of the boundaries can be crossed. It can be a therapeutic experience to cross that kind of boundary… It is so, though, only if the person is in integrity within his own self.