Weekly Wellbeing: Mindfulness and the Five senses
In a really busy week, it’s often hard to take some time to slow down and listen to your what your mind and body needs to be healthy. Mindfulness is such a great word! Mindfulness is all about being fully in the moment and becoming in tune with your body and thoughts in every instance. It’s about awareness of your thoughts, your feelings, your bodily sensations, the environment around you. Rather than focusing on worries of the past or the future, it’s appreciating the things surrounding you in the present moment and accepting how you feel.
In high-school, we had a session taught to us about how to be mindful. We did one using each of the five senses and I thought it would be fun for all of us to give it a shot this week! First of all, make sure you’re sitting comfortably in a quiet space to give yourself more peace of mind and let’s get started!
- Pay attention to what you see around you and be more aware of your environment. Is there anything you didn’t notice before?
- Close your eyes and pay attention to what you hear and be more aware of your environment. Is it rain, birds chirping, crickets, cars outside?
- Pay attention to what you smell and be more aware of your environment. Is it the smell of something cooking downstairs, or pine trees, or the ocean, or perfume?
- Pay attention to what you feel and be more aware of your environment. Can you feel the chair you’re sitting on beneath your thighs, or your feet pressing into the ground, or your clothes brushing against you?
- Grab a small snack to fit into one bite or take a sip of a drink and pay attention to what you taste and be more aware of your environment. Does it taste sweet, salty, sour, bitter, savoury? Is it crunchy, soft, juicy?
When you’ve taken that time to slow down and really pay attention to the things in your present, take a few deep breaths. This week, write down if being mindful was helpful for you and your thoughts about the activity! Was it strange? Did you find it hard to concentrate and be mindful at times? Did it help you calm down and slow a racing heart?
Comments
Thanks for this awesome weekly wellbeing activity @ayrc_1904! I find mindfulness activities really helpful when I need to relax or concentrate on something else 🙂 I like the idea of trying to notice something you haven't noticed before, that's a bit tricky!
I can't believe I missed this thread before @ayrc_1904 - I love this, thanks so much for sharing it.
I find mindfulness so good - it's hard to get myself to slow down and focus, but when I do it's worth it 😃
I noticed these things:
- the way that the dappled light on the wall makes the patterns of the trees outside
- the voices of people laughing and chatting as they walk along the footpath outside 💛
- the smell of the wisteria flowers coming in through the window
- my nice soft sheepskin slippers - so comfy
- a warm, relaxing cup of tea
I love this activity @ayrc_1904!
I personally find practicing mindfulness helpful. I'd love to get more into it.
Does anyone have a favourite kind of meditation or mindfulness practice?
My favourites are Smiling Mind's extended counting breaths and Exploring Sounds exercises. It really helps to bring me into the moment and feel more connected to myself. What are yours?
I also enjoy sound-based meditations!
Some of my favourite are loving kindness and self-compassion themed meditations.
