I was coming back to my New York place after running errands one afternoon last week, when I registered acute thirst.
I was almost home and did not want to buy another plastic bottle.
For the next few blocks, while I was walking, I noticed my thoughts fixate on how and what I was going to drink as soon as I got home.
The mind became obsessive, my visions vivid and detailed: it’s like I was already in the future.
I saw myself opening the freezer, squeezing ice cubes into a tall glass, pouring the cool clear water…
The observer in me caught me in the process of escaping my reality.
The experience of thirst on a hot humid day was so uncomfortable, so urgent, it became overwhelming for my nervous system.
The mind did what it does so well — dissociated me from the rest of my body by leaving the present moment, bypassing the actual experience, and trying to find refuge in a fantasy instead.
Catching myself in this process intrigued me.
I was very aware of how quick and automatic it was.
I had enough …