The Body Brings Us Here

 

I hope you are enjoying a long, holiday weekend. Today's email comes early in the day so that you can take this Mindful Pause into the day with you. It's a simple practice to help you to be present in your beautiful body, allowing yourself to be filled in simple ways.

As many of you hear me say often in my guided meditations -- "we are here in this body and, in this form, we get to experience all kinds of sensations. When we are sensing ourselves, we are here in the present moment." It is very hard to fully sense what is happening now and be somewhere else in our mind. Try feeling the touch of your shirt on your torso and arms, the way the fabric feels, its weight or lightness, anything about it, and at the same time, think about what you are going to make for dinner. It's not so easy! Impossible, maybe?

Today's practice is to help us set the intention to savor our experiences in the day before us. Take a pause to ask yourself, "what, today, do I want to savor with each of my senses?" Take one at a time and see what sight, sound, taste, smell, touch you can name, now, that you would like to fully enjoy in the moment of experiencing it?  You might close your eyes and ask the question for each sense. Bring yourself there and allow yourself to appreciate what you get to experience in life. Yes, this exercise has us lean into a future moment, but with the intention of helping us not miss out when it happens. An added bonus is that in the process of thinking it through, we can already enjoy it. We can set ourselves up so that we don't just roll on through to the next thing, but are filled by our daily experiences. It is an act of self-kindness.

Here's an example. Today, I want to savor the smell of cinnamon before I put it on my oatmeal and the smell of the blue tansy face oil when I put it on my skin before bed. I want to take in the sight of the peonies my friend cut from her garden in all their lushness. I want to listen fully to the sounds of the country as we take a walk on the trail. With the arrival of a much anticipated new couch, I want to savor the feeling of my body relaxing into it.

🌼
Jean