Microscopy as mindfulness

Someone recently asked me what I did to relax after a stressful day at work. I considered it for a moment but the answer was obvious. Looking down a microscope and dissecting tiny beetles.

But why, when I frequently do it poorly or ping the aedeagus off the microscope to be forever lost somewhere on the floor? I think that it's because it takes a lot of concentration. When I am maneuvering my chopstick embedded micropins around under high magnification, nothing else gets a look in, my mind becomes blank except for the immediate task in hand. If I don't give it my full attention then failure is inevitable, if I do, then I might just succeed.

It got me thinking that what I do when dissecting is a form of mindfulness.

I found this definition on the interweb: "Mindfulness can be described as the practice of paying attention in the present moment, and doing it intentionally and with non-judgment.  Mindfulness meditation practices refer to the deliberate acts of regulating attention through the observation of thoughts, emotions and body states."

By concentrating on just one thing in the present moment, everything else drops away, the stress, the worries, all of it. So maybe I am tapping into my inner mindfulness mediation through dissecting tiny beetles and regulating my attention.

Or maybe I'm just unable to multi-task!

Anyway, I tackled the Cypha from the weekend and satisfyingly it was a male and seemingly the most commonly encountered species C. longicornis. 

It's aedeagus is a thing of dagger-like wonder.

I also successfully dissected this small latrid which given the pronotal shape was obiously an Enicmus species and a comparison of the shape of its tackle suggested E. histrio. Which has since been confirmed.

So another 2 new species and two more records to be submitted. Just wish the rain would bugger off and I get back out to do some proper beetling!