I walked home from work today a little after 4 pm - quite a bit earlier than normal. As a consequence, there was a different bustle along the streets - a group of teenagers getting off a city bus, police cars parked, lights flashing, by an office building, workmen on projects, not yet off for the day.
As I walked, my attention drifted from the here and now - noticing what was happening around me, feeling the cool breeze on my face, seeing the damp sidewalk around the patches of melting snow - to the not here, as my mind latched onto some thought about the coming weekend, or a family member in another city, or news from the Ukraine.
The term, "lost in thought," is very apt. Meanwhile, the neighborhood was passing by, all the sense data from the sights and sounds still streaming in, but being deflected by my mind, like an email server shunting messages into a spam folder.
Then the mind would shift again, and I would realize that my mind had taken me elsewhere. Interesting that I don't recognize that while it is happening, only after something catches me and directs me back ton the present, here and now.
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