Life is hectic. Fact.
You will have heard to cliches of “take some time for you”, “have you tried meditation” and “you just need to relax”, but in reality, how do you actually do this?
Well I wanted to take a bit of time to teach you about a skill called One Mindfulness. One Mindfulness is all about focusing on one activity at on time, and one sense within that one activity. You may believe you already do this, but in reality when we are doing any activity these days, we have been trained to multi-task, to make the best use of our time, and to be as efficient as possible. For example, if you are watching TV, are you playing on your phone at the same time? If you are waiting for the kettle to boil, are you doing the washing up whilst you wait? Or if you are having a bath or a shower, are you making a list in your head of all the things you need to do?
Stop. Stop multi-tasking. Stop ruminating. Stop avoiding the moment.
Instead, next time you make a cup of tea, take the moment to focus on what you are doing. take a moment to go through each sense one at a time and really focus on the activity.
What can you touch? Can you feel the cold surface of the mug, can you feel the grainy texture of the teabag, does it feel cold or hot, does it feel smooth or bumpy, and how does your hand feel on the surface?
What can you hear? Can you hear the water boiling? What does it sound like, can you hear the layers of sound? Can you hear other things, can you hear cars outside, people talking, birds nearby, or can you just hear your breathing? or the movement of your clothes as you move around?
What can you see? Can you see the steam starting to come from the kettle? Can you see the colour of the mug? try and name the colour, you don’t need to be simple with it, not just red or blue, instead try and focus on the shadows you can see within the colours, the darkness or the tones of each colour? Can you see anything else in the room? Can you see the surface around the mug, can you see the shadows on that surface, or maybe a tiny bit of detailing on the surface that you have never noticed before?
What can you smell? Can you smell the teabag? What does it smell like? Can you smell the hot water? May sound strange, but does the boiling water have a different smell to cold water, the answer may be no, but take the time to consider to focus and to think of that smell. How does that smell make you feel?
And finally, what can you taste? Is your mouth dry, or maybe it is watering at the thought of the cup of tea. Maybe it is the morning and you haven’t brushed your teeth yet, what does that taste like? Can you taste something you have just eaten? Or maybe you can taste the smell of the teabag?
This simple activity of making a cup of tea has just become a small moment of meditation using the One Mindfulness technique. Through focusing on all of these senses, you have hopefully removed yourself from the stress of life for 5 mins, you should have been able to stop thinking, relax your mind, and really live in the moment in the most wholesome sense of the word. Thoughts may come and go as you go through this process, that is totally fine, just let them flow through. Often when we try and relax or meditate, we give up when we start thinking of other things, as if that thought has taken over and made us fail at the meditation. Instead imagine the thoughts flowing through an open window, they can come in and they can go out, but they do not blow down the house just by being there. Acknowledge the thought, and then return to the senses.
This blog is a little different to my usual, but I hope this little bit of practical advice can help you take a moment for you. And do feel free to let me know how it goes!
Happy Mindfulness!
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