Okay so > I was in a (unnamed cafe) browsing HN. I clicked on 'sit'. didn't expect the gong noise & my headphones weren't connected - got strange looks from a

Okay so > I was in a (unnamed cafe) browsing HN. I clicked on 'sit'. didn't expect the gong noise & my headphones weren't connected - got strange looks from a couple people. > I'm usually super hyperfixated with things but I immediately just snapped into a zone. the 'you can stop looking at the screen for now' prompt was super helpful. > so just I let my eyes just wander, it felt weird to do so, but slowly felt those knots in my brain fizzle out > I started with the window, watched some people past - the usual mindfulness - nothing too interesting. started listening to the traffic on a car-by-car level which seemed to bring everything into scope. I saw a baby pigeon pick at something across the street, a mother lean down to kiss their baby in a pram. > then my gaze sort of drifted back into the cafe, both visually and audibly > I heard the coffee machine whir, listened to the waiters giving each other ordered - which felt sort of intrusive but also kind of like a superpower. > THEN I caught this waitress' gaze, and I shit you not, she smiled at me. > maybe it's because I looked like a creep sitting in a cafe watching people with an open laptop in front of me but... > I learnt things from that 2 minutes of mental silence. thank you edit: as I was writing this comment, the same waitress brought over my food and we had a chat! side note: on my Mac there seemed to be some kind of UI glitch with the minutes dropdown menu - it was gigantic