Hello????? ... Anybody home??????
By arkaf61
@arkaf61 (10881)
Canada
March 11, 2008 5:21pm CST
I know that I tend to be quite absent minded. I recognize that
But something happened yesterday that never happened before.
I was in the subway. I was a bit tired just coming from skating and I sat down thinking. I don't remember exactly what I was thinking about, but I know that I was concentrating hard on whatever it was.
At a stop, don't know if third of fourth after I got in, a man came in. I was looking straight at him. I noticed him, and I noticed his dog. But still it didn't register until I saw the young man in front of me giving up his seat to this man.
I would have done it myself, but although I did look directly at him for quite some time, it didn't register that he was visually challenged and that his dog was a guide dog.
Did this ever happened to you? Being so distracted that you look at someone directly but still no details register?
9 people like this
14 responses
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
13 Mar 08
Oh yes...for sure! Sometimes I have had a brief exchange with someone and been distracted by things going on in my head. When I come home and tell David and I saw so and so and he asked me what they said and I'll draw a complete blank. So much for my desire to be mindful and present.
So yep...it happens...
Raia
1 person likes this
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
14 Mar 08
It's good to know that it doesn't happen only to me LOL
I was always a bit absent minded. I remember having people thinking I was being snob because I didn't acknowledge them when they passed by me in the street, but the truth was that I didn't notice them at all.
But this one was a first. I remember looking at him, and I remember seeing all the details that could tell me he was visually impaired but it didn't register for a few minutes.
@charms88 (7538)
• Philippines
12 Mar 08
Awww Arkaf, you must have been thinking of me too much, lol!
I'm mostly like that when I was totally absorbed surfing the net. I know someone is beside me, I know they are talking to me and yet, my mind is a million miles away.
I don't recall it happened to me on the streets though. I'm usually alert and leaving all thoughts behind my house. =)
1 person likes this
@joyce959 (1559)
• Philippines
12 Mar 08
I think that happen to most people, being absent-minded sometimes. I was also in that situation a few times, when I am overly absorbed on what I am doing or thinking that I fail to notice something or someone near me. There were times, when I was on a public transport going to office and I was thinking something that time and I didn't notice that I / we (vehicle) had already passed my office and I just realized it late, so I had to walk back.
1 person likes this
@jezzikabret (245)
• United States
12 Mar 08
Oh yeah I do. My mind is always somewhere else. I guess it comes with having a baby. I'm always sleep deprived so a good chunk of the time I just daze if i'm not taking care of her. Should be called "mommy syndrome" or something. But all in all everyone randomly just checks out for a bit...its life :)
1 person likes this
@gxnfly (1147)
• China
12 Mar 08
That situation happened to me before.I went to the railway
station to pick my sister.I saw her in a blue coat ,then we got on the bus.Then said to her ,last I had a dream about you,and you were just wearing this blue coat in my dream.She looked at me surprised :Are you colorblind?I am wearing a gray coat,idiot!On my god,she was wearing a grey coat,but I thought that was blue .Surely I am not colorblind,I was distracted.
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36445)
• United States
3 Oct 09
Many times in life this has happened, and for the most part I think I never STOP to think about it as well. In a case like this though I am sure I would have noticed since most people are not allowed to bring animals on public transportation except for in cases like this. Plus here in WA if they are seeing eye dogs, they are usually marked well as well. But sometimes, especially if you are tired from a busy day things like this can happen for sure.
@lovespecialangel (3632)
• United States
9 May 08
I have had this happen several times. I have actually looked at someone and didn't see them, if you can believe that. I didn't realize I did it, but was told that I did. I get so entranced sometimes that it seems like I am in another world.
1 person likes this
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
12 Mar 08
I do it very often. When I am busy, I may be out of focus and I know that I am looking without being able to see, because my mind is somewhere else...
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
5 Oct 09
Hi arkaf. I've done that before. Okay, well not that exactly, but I have been so preoccupied that when someone needed assistance I didn't offer it.
It happened while I was grocery shopping with one of my kids, I think. I got to the aisle of bottled water when an elderly woman that was next to me made a comment to me about how heavy the bottles are. I just looked at her and smiled. While I was grabbing a package of bottle waters for myself another person helped this elderly woman get some and put them in her basket for her. Whoops. I had been so absentminded that I hadn't realized that she was hinting around that she needed help getting the water. I would have been more than happy to have done it, but by then it was too late. Needless to say I was embarrassed about the whole thing. 
Happy mylotting!
Happy mylotting!
@rockvixen (894)
• United States
12 Mar 08
Yes, this has happend to me one to many times. Sometimes our minds are so distracted by our own thoughts that we don't seem to notice the world around us. Or the people for that matter. It's a bit strange and no you're not losing your mind. We all do this whether we admit it or not. Even those with a perfect memory or a great sense of detail, can fail to notice things every now and then.
1 person likes this
@toms65 (84)
• United States
12 Mar 08
Yes, I have had the exact thing happen to me. Well, not EXACT. No visually impaired person, but I have been staring straight ahead and only snapped out of it when the person in who's direction I was staring said something. But the way I came out of it was apparent to the other person that I was in deep thought and not staring at them. They gave a little laugh and mentioned they do the same thing sometimes. I think this occurs frequently on Mass Transit. lol
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
12 Mar 08
gee, I am feeling so much better noticing that I am not the only one:)
SO what I"m getting is that this happens often when we are either thinking about many things at the same time or when we are focusing hard on something. It makes sense, of course. But it is strange when it happens to us.
@crystaltips (219)
•
16 Sep 09
Definitely. I was getting on a bus and I glanced behind me to see a man holding a baby in one hand and a pushchair with the other. I got on and sat down and on seeing this poor man struggling trying to get on the bus and pay for his ticket with only two hands, I felt terrible for not offering to help. If anyone saw me they would think I was ignorant not helping but really I didn't absorb it at the time. Absent-mindedness makes us so blind. The greatest spiritual gurus and Zen buddhists say how we should be 'mindful', which is the opposite of absent-mindedness.
