M2M Day 92: Rubik’s Cubing is a bit like meditation (plus, a book recommendation)
This post is part of Month to Master, a 12-month accelerated learning project. For January, my goal is to solve a Rubik’s Cube in under 20 seconds.
Today is the last day of January, which means it’s also the last day of “Rubik’s Cube Month”.
And while this project shifts its focus elsewhere, I certainly will continue cubing. There’s just something about it that’s so meditative. I get completely engrossed in it.
Sometimes, cubing enables the quiet the mind kind of meditation, but, more usually, it gets my mind into that actively creative state typically reserved for hot showers.
Especially now that I’ve softened up on my training, and instead, am relying on mostly automatically reflexes to solve the cube, I’m able to enter into that shower-like trance often. It’s a great feeling to control.
Of course, everyone’s experience with the Rubik’s Cube is different, and if you’re interested in learning more about the perspectives and stories of other speed cubers, I’d recommend checking out the book Cracking the Cube.
In the book, author Ian Scheffler integrates himself into the competitive world of speed cubing, sharing amusing stories about cubing’s main characters and weaving in his own pursuit of trying to break the 20-second speed threshold (It took Ian about 1.5 years to get his time from around 50 seconds to 20 seconds).
Ian also had the chance to interview Erno Rubik for his book, the inventor of the cube, which is also an interesting story.
Anyway, if you are still itching to learn more about the cube, this book is probably the best place to continue. If not, tomorrow I start a new M2M challenge: Landing a standing backflip.
Read the next post. Read the previous post.