I was eating at an Ethiopian restaurant yesterday. For those not familiar with that cuisine, the food is served on thin pancakes and one is supposed to eat one’s dinner with the right hand. For me it was a painful exercise in overcoming my conditionings. The table went quiet: a measure of the concentration we all needed to not eat warm food with knife and fork. We were suddenly fully there: eating.
In this post I’m stepping away from the abstract philosophical to the practical every day. One of the ways we complicate our lives is by lack of mindfulness, not being ‘in the moment’. Sometimes this is OK. It isn’t really a problem to not be aware of your chair when you’re online. Now that you’ve just read that, you probably ARE aware of your chair. Perhaps you’re sitting a bit straighter as well. That’s the start of mindfulness.
The exercises below are meant for those times when you are so fluttered you bump into doors and chairs, for instance. Or when you just can’t get that quarrel with a colleague out of your head. These are all exercises I’ve tried, but I certainly don’t pretend to do them daily or even in all cases successfully. Just something to work with to get back to yourself.
- Mind your feet while you’re grocery shopping. (my yoga teacher)
- Mind your chair while you’re typing.
- When going through a door, think ‘I am I’ (Fourth Way exercise)
- When putting on your shoes, try and put on the one you usually put on second first. (also Fourth Way, Ravi Ravindra)
- Drink your tea without sugar if you’re used to sugar in your tea. If you’re used to no sugar, just once put in sugar. Works with coffee too obviously. The point is, like the previous one, to become aware of patterns and how hard it is to break them (Jiddu Krishnamurti). The point is NOT to change the pattern. A new pattern is just as much a pattern as the old one. Just create a bit more flexibility.
- When you have to wait for something (grocery line, pc starting up etc.) breath consciously.
- Cleaning the house: be aware of every step of cleaning.
- Keep a diary of your thoughts and feelings. The goal isn’t to create literature, but to observe. So don’t mind repetition.
- Notice… take a deep breath; notice five things you can see. notice five things you can hear; notice five things you can feel (shoes, pants, hair against forehead etc.)
- When you’re annoyed at waiting for a stopping sign, or anything else for that matter, just SMILE (Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhism)
In all these cases the point isn’t to beat yourself over the head if you can’t do it consistently. Just try – the trying is the exercise.
11 Comments
I would like to add some more points to be aware about…
I have been reading about living in present and being aware of all the things every now and then. I try to follow it wherever possible. Specially liked the point of drinking tea without sugar and putting the second shoe first…. Very good way to force your mind to be aware.
1) While drinking water- drink calmly, feel the water touching the teeth, tongue, throat, stomach etc….
2) While climbing the stairs. Feel the pressure in your legs. your soles touching the ground. etc
3) Try to eat with left hand ( if you are right handed ) and vice versa.
Cool, I’ll have to try the idea about thinking “I am I” whenever going through a door.. another similar one: whenever going up or down some stairs, try to skip every other step and do it in such a way that you always skip the last one.. forces you to remember where you are
Check this out: http://www.glowingfaceman.com/blog/ways-to-be-more-present/
This is a nice posting to see. It is good to have practical implementations of practice in daily life and not have consciousness separated into a unique activity. I do my regular practice on the subway. It’s a great environment in which to practice compassion as well. Motorcycle riding is also a great way to practice mindfulness. Thank you for your lovely post.
I have been doing mindfulness practice for 2 years now. It still amazes me how much calmer I am after I notice what I’m doing(in the moment). Thanks for the 10 exercises given above, I’ll have to try them.
I am pleased to see this as I need practical tips to try out. I am in recovery and need to develop these practices in my life.
And it is SO simple but SO elusive. Freedom from grinding pattern comes and goes. And these silly little beloved and despised patterns… a certain routine in the kitchen, comforting and numbing. Or even a certain way of of hoping for a transforming glimpse of beauty in the light on the water and chasing it away with the hoping. But even the long oppressed Jews of Russia felt sad when leaving the villages where they had seen so much poverty and so many pograms. Because that reality was LIFE. Just like those struggles plates and forks in the kitchen and the elusive glimpses of joy.
I love the I Am I, the diary, and noticing 5 things. These are all great ways to start being present, which is something I tend to struggle with. Thank you so much for this post!!
Glad to see so many new names commenting
Thanks for the extra tips.
Thanks for the great list. For the last several months, I have been blogging about meditation experiences in everyday life. I’m going to try some of your exercises and write about them. Thanks again.
http://meditationsnippets.wordpress.com/
Great post! I loved these ideas – especially #4,6, and 9:)
Thank you,
Melissa
I totally agree that spiritual enlightenment has to be practiced in everyday life… great post!
As much as we can cultivate awareness in our everyday lives, I am also sure we can cultivate a host of other higher values. In particular, I recently wrote about a 5-minute exercise that can help us become less judgmental:
http://alanfurth.com/how-to-become-less-judgmental-in-5-minutes-or-less-the-year-of-nothing-part-3
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