Intense Concentration

My grandparents like to read my blogs but they don't have internet so I format my "Nonsense" into a Word document, print them up and mail them out so my G.P.s can read them. If I am diligent about doing this every month, it doesn't take that long, but it is still a process because I have to reformat all the pictures.

I was working on just such a project this afternoon and while I was doing so I realized that my eyebrows were furrowed very intensely. I only realized this when my forehead started to feel fatigued. Of course my first thought was, "Relax! You don't want to get pre-mature wrinkles!" **Side Note: This is something I think about often since I was once an ignorant sun-worshiper in high school and now I am desperately trying to reverse the skin damage I am sure I created, thus the wrinkle-worry.** At my fearful command to myself, I would stop working, take a minute to do a few forehead stretches (Don't you love picturing me doing this? I bet I look ridiculous!) and continue on with my formatting, only to once again be interrupted by my intense forehead muscles contracting a mere few minutes later.

It made me think about how funny we can be when we are so engrossed in our work that we forget how our bodies respond to this attentiveness. I remember when I was in school and working intently on a writing assignment, I would tense up . . . my nose . . . I know it sounds weird, but I would. There was little third or fourth grade Pammie, hunched over her lined notebook paper, feverishly forming paragraphs and then the nose would start to feel tired. I think it's so weird, but also super interesting. Because of this, I try to notice what other people do when they are wrapped up in a project.

My dad also makes a profound, furrowed brow. My grandpa sticks his tongue out of the side of his mouth. My sister's action is my favorite though. You know she is so narrowly focused on your conversation when her mouth starts to form the words that you are saying. I love it. I think it's so funny. You might be animatedly sharing an exciting story and say the word, "wow!" and then Laura's countenance completely shifts. Her eyebrows rise and her mouth slowly forms the /o/ sound in "wow." Whenever she does this, I usually stop what I am talking about and point it out to her. Though I am usually teasing her, I really do find it endearing. It is such a fun quality to have.

We know that our bodies do things automatically without our need of cognitively telling our brains to perform this action. Breathing, heart pumping and blinking would be examples of this. But we forget the little things that our body language does in a similar fashion. Maybe you do some of things listed. Or maybe you have perfect and complete control over your body and don't. If the later is true, you are probably kind of weird. But don't worry, we can still be friends. If you do something that is funny, share it! I would like to know what weird things other people do. Mostly so I can feel more normal about myself.