Staring at the Ceiling

Human civilisation has definitely come a long way. We all now have small-sized portable devices that we call smartphones. But through all this progress, there is always something precious abandoned as a tradeoff. For me, that tradeoff is as simple as an act of staring at the ceiling. 

Let me ask you an honest question. When was the last time you stared at the ceiling? 

My hunch would be: never? 

You probably ponder what's so significant about staring at the ceiling. Or, you simply react to the whole notion with "why? it's a waste of time". Yes, that is actually the point. You stare at the ceiling to waste time - to take a break from the outside world that's constantly feeding you with information (bad news, good news, funny videos, etc.)

Kids these days (kids born with smartphones on their hands) may have trouble comprehending this idea. With all attention grabbing things on the internet, why would anyone spend their times staring at the ceiling - right? 

But, the ceiling stands for something deeper. 

If you lived in the era before smartphones, you would know that the ceiling was a big blank screen that projects the story inside your brain. 

Remember that one time you came home from school covered in sweat, feeling frustrated, because after almost three years, you still did not have a courage to talk to your crush? And yet, the ceiling was there to project your emotion. You went right to your room, dumped books filled heavy backpack of yours on the floor, and jumped right on to your bed. You first faced your head down to the pillow and your hand was gesturing that you were disappointed with yourself. Once calmed down, you turned your body upside down, and there it was - the ceiling. You stared at it without a blink. And - its quietness, motionlessness, and sameness were the things you did not know you needed. It was a pure act of no judgement. 

Or, remember that night you could not sleep? The ceiling was there to entertain you. You eyes met with the white-painted ceiling and there it was the pictures of your imagination moving like it was some kind of a movie. You imagined how the day went badly or beautifully. But most importantly you are engaged with your inner-self. Yes, that's it. The ceiling connected you with yourself. The ceiling may sound like a trivial thing to have an emotional attachment with - but, the ceiling is a mere representation of your inner-self. So, in a way, losing contact with the ceiling is losing contact with yourself. 

That's the reality of life today. When you have time off, you no longer spend it doing nothing (doing nothing is actually doing something. You do nothing to connect with inner-self). Instead, you would distract yourself with all the countless attention grabbing things on the world wild web. Consequently, you lose touch of you.

Yesterday I banned myself from touching my phone the entire day. I wanted a total silence. No YouTube, no Facebook, no Instagram, not even Spotify. I want to reconnect with myself - I want to reconnect with the ceiling. 

The result? I feel calmer. It's almost like a meditation. My imagination now has its platform back. I am now feeding myself - as opposed to being fed by the world wild web. 

P.S. The image is borrowed from an amazing flickr account. Please check his flickr account for his other amazing photography.