Today an NPR segment talked about how people are unable to walk in a straight line beyond about 20 or 30 steps while blindfolded. In fact, we can't do anything in a straight line for very long... swim, drive... They've been studying this for at least a century- blindfolding people, asking them to do random things, and observing.
The interesting thing is, not only do the people veer off the straight path, they inevitably begin to move in circles. Walk in circles. Drive in circles. Swim in circles... and these circles usually get tighter and tighter the longer the person persists.
There is something innate in us that begins to retreat backward when we do not have stimulus to cue us to the present. And we persist, all the while under the impression that we are moving forward.
I think the heart works like that too.
When the way ahead isn't clear, we innately return to places we've been. Lessons we've already learned. Experiences and emotions already played out. Nostalgic circles winding tighter and tighter, and all the while we think we're moving forward. We think we've gone somewhere new.
Be here now. Look for the cues. Forward, march.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/11/03/131050832/a-mystery-why-can-t-we-walk-straight
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