The National Park Service celebrates its 100th Birthday this year, with free entrance to all National Parks August 25th through 28th (among other dates). I didn’t know that when I visited Acadia National Park this past week, so I wasn’t able to save any money, but it’s a nice introduction to this blog post!

If you haven’t been to the Mount Desert Island, Maine, national park just yet, I highly recommend it. Scenic hikes, island views, and starry nights await you. That is, if you’re the outdoors type (hint: be the outdoors type). Acadia is truly a natural wonderland.

One of the Acadia attractions is the tidal pools, the small ponds of water left behind by the tide in the rocky shore. At first glance there isn’t much to see - just some water, leftover shells, and mossy plant life. But the park ranger had said that it would be worth the trip. So I sat down next to a pool, and waited. And after about a minute, I started to notice things.

The plants that I thought were swaying in the water were more than just plants. They were alive with motion. One plant-like thing (non-technical language here) was actually a few dozen small sea-ants huddled together. Tiny translucent fish swam from one reed to another. A large crab hovered behind a rock. And a snail popped its head of its shell, saw me, and went right back into hiding until high tide.

I couldn’t see any of this until I stopped to see what I could see, trusting that just observing would be worthwhile.

Do I need to spell out the mindfulness lesson here?

Mindfulness speaks of the inner observer, the state of awareness of our mind, body, and spirit. We access the inner observer by simply pausing and watching, noting, noticing. What is my body doing? What am I thinking, feeling, experiencing?

When we are able to access the inner observer, we disconnect ourselves from the limitations of simply acting and reacting. We free ourselves by introducing reflection, monitoring, and observation. And we prime ourselves for positive change because we know better where we stand (see Patrick Carnes’s description of the inner observer in his book A Gentle Path Through the Twelve Steps).

I challenge you to give it a try. Purposefully pause for a moment. Close your eyes. Feel what you feel, sense what you sense. You may notice some tension, some body sensation, some thought or feeling that you didn’t know was there. These sensations were already happening before, but you didn’t realize it. It was below the level of your awareness, up until just now. Amazing!

And if you don’t notice anything just yet, just pause, watch, and wait for it. It may be hiding behind that next rock.

Shimmy Feintuch, LCSW CASAC-G maintains a private practice in Brooklyn, NY, and Washington Heights, NYC, with specialties in addictions and anxiety. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University. Contact: (530) 334-6882 or shimmyfeintuch@gmail.com. 

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