Present Day Sleuthing at the Mystery Museum

Let’s curate all the mental mysteries we will solve in the year-that-is-now

In the early days of the Secret Storyworld, I considered a library as my metaphoric space for the realm of the Mind (image by author)

Yesterday on the Present Floor of the Time Traveler Hotel I discovered my inspirational goal took the form of a habit of going to Wizard School. This gives Present Me a fun way to engage in spiritual practices that bypasses my rational mind.

Today that same persnickety mind is in the hot seat as I decide that my mental education and mindfulness practices will be centered around running a Mystery Museum of Curiosities.

The Mystery of the Mind

The realm of the mysterious mind remains the most elusive one to name. Part of the mystery is figuring out who-done-it. This Who is the guide and guardian of the imaginal and strategic mind. In a Mystery Museum of Curiosities, it could be the Curator, the Sleuth, or the Scientist. Or maybe a mashup of all three.

What I know for sure is that whoever is in charge of my mind, they have a Mystery Bus (I’ve got a photo at the bottom of this page) to drive around to navigate the floors of the Mystery Museum (conscious, subconscious, unconscious) and out into the world for learning (curating.)

Driving this bus is my very own Scooby Gang that includes a Dinosaur driver (Lizard Brain) and a Monkey navigator (Monkey Mind), and of course Me.

But who am I in this mental realm? Scientist Me and Sleuth Me and Curator Me are all possibilities.

There is nothing for it but to open the Sapphire Door into the Present Floor of the Time Traveler Hotel to find out.

As expected, inside is my Mystery Museum. There are the worn pathways into the Past, and flights of stairs that led down to the various levels of my mind, marked Conscious, Subconscious, and Unconscious. I long to explore them all.

I was just about to start down the stairs that led to the Subconscious when I was stopped in midstep by the distinct sound of hammering, followed by what had to be an electric saw. I followed the sounds to the center of the museum.

The Mystery Museum Curator

Museum Curator Me looked up from an in-progress building project.

You’re just in time. Help me stand this up.

I moved to help lift the bookshelf into place.

Bookshelf for what I’m reading in the year-that-is-now?

Mmmhmm, said my Museum Curator from the Present through a mouth full of nails. Another loud series of hammering and we both stepped back to view the bookshelf.

More than a bookshelf, the Museum Curator explained. This is the exhibit for the mysteries you will solve in the year-that-is-now. You’re just in time to help set them up. They will be an evolving exhibit for the entire year.

Now that you know what you need to learn to make your big dreams for the year a reality, its time to make space for all that learning.

This exhibit display case is step 1.

My Museum Curator handed me a sharpie and some small placards. Write down the mysteries on these cards. We will continue to build the exhibit space around them. You’ve got the list from the Museum Curator from the Future, yes?

I unfolded the list that the Museum Curator from the Future and I had created on the Future Floor of the Time Traveler Hotel.

It centered around solving some technological mysteries for online writing and creating. And it made me anxious. Not surprisingly, the more I studied it, the more interested I became in exploring the other floors of the museum. This tangible path of learning seemed dry and boring… very linear. The mysteries of the Subconscious seemed more free-form.

Museum Curator Me chuckled. Monkey is trying to steer the Mystery Machine. Don’t let him.

What do you mean?

Monkey prefers the easy exploration of undefined mysteries rather than concrete learning. Always has. If you want to finally make real your big dream, you’ve got to put some energy into learning some of the visible world skills and trades. You’ll need some mental habits to keep Monkey out of the driver’s seat.

I stop with one foot poised on the top step leading down into the Subconscious Floor of the Mystery Museum.

Drat, I mutter. You’re right.

I return to the newly erected displays to fill out the placards that will keep me focused on the tangible mysteries of making real my big dream.

Mysteries to Sleuth in the Year-That-Is-Now

So what are the weekly and daily mental sleuthing you and I must do to achieve our dreams? What do we need to learn?

For me, I want to learn more about publishing content… be it in a book, a blog, a video channel, or an online school. Those are the mysteries I’d like to solve.

That means daily and weekly habits of reading, writing, and putting what I learn from that reading and writing into action.

What about you? What mysteries will you solve in the year-that-is-now?

Here’s the Mystery Bus leaving the Mystery Museum on a sleuthing expedition. (image by author)

TIME TRAVELING AT HOME

Open the Sapphire Door into your Mindful Present to commit to the mindfulness habits and actions that will make your imaginings of the future a reality.