To shake things up a little on this blog of visual meditations, here are some audio and gustatory-meditations:
I went to a mindful eating dinner last night.
The leader of the dinner said: “For the next 5 minutes, eat your food slowly. Think about where it comes from. Think about the land, the farmers, the truck drivers, the stores, the cashiers, everyone. Savor the textures, spices, sounds, smells.”
And that meal lasted forever. At some point, my brain said: “Gorge! This food is healthy and tasty and you should get more!” I noticed this but didn’t move on it.
In and out of mindfulness I went. I noticed a lot about the meal. The rice was the best rice I ever had – vinegar notes and crackly sounds between chewy grains.
This morning, I tried to replicate the exercise. I ate an apricot. Then a carrot with almond butter. I really savored them.
I wasn’t hungry at the end of the small meal. But somehow my brain said: “Gorge! Or you will be hungry later.” And I gorged, out of fear.
***
It strikes me that I often can’t remember things. Like what I ate, or whether I closed my car doors or locked up my bike.
This is a symptom. It’s a symptom of lack of mindfulness. Of not paying attention.
Getting lost in thoughts is great, but constant fear-based thought loops that prevent perception of the world are bad news bears. Why? Because life is memory:
If you don’t remember your life, it’s like it never happened. – Derek Sivers
***
So mindfulness is not some new agey thing for hippies with too much time on their hands. First of all, it takes 5 minutes. Eating takes 15 minutes, let’s say. Five of those minutes can be spent eating mindfully. Same goes for any other activity.
I love the angry tone of this Modest Mouse song, which is really about mindfulness I think.
My interpretations are in parentheses:
The ocean breathes salty, won’t you carry it in?
In your head, in your mouth, in your soul.
[Pay attention to the ocean. Let it in to your sensory organs – to your head, mouth, and soul.]
Will you tell me what you saw and I’ll tell you what you missed
[Hey Dude, Tell me what you saw. Nope. You missed a lot, because you weren’t paying attention.]
For your sake I hope heaven and hell
are really there, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
You wasted life, why wouldn’t you waste death?
You wasted life, why wouldn’t you waste death?
[If you aren’t present during life, then I hope you get another life. But I wouldn’t hold my breath that this will happen.]
You wasted life, why wouldn’t you waste the afterlife?
[And even if you did get another life, you’d probably waste it, because you are in the habit of wasting your life.]
So now it’s time to practice mindfulness. It’s time to get in the habit of NOT WASTING LIFE.
***
If you miss the here, you are also likely to miss the there. If your mind is not centered here, it is likely not to be centered just because you arrive somewhere else. – Jon Kabat-Zinn
danscreativeoulet 