On Sensory Details

This morning I resisted the mindfulness practice I'd committed to this week. I have a few choices for those 10 minutes, different ways to slow down, get present, and release some stress and anxiety. I wake up anxious most days, before my eyes are even open, so it's pretty helpful to get up and start the doing of the day instead of wallowing and getting sucked down into a pit of anxiety oblivion topped with a shame spiral.

So I did well at the getting up part, took the dogs out and tidied up the kitchen. Enough doing had gone by that it was time for the mindfulness choice, and I didn't want to do any of it. So I got my coffee and now I'm sitting here with you and my laptop and I'm considering the senses.

In writing, we talk about using sensory details to bring our readers into the moment. It's a good idea to describe what a character or narrator is seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting, and smelling... not all at once, but enough to bring the reader into the moment.

A mindfulness practice of sitting and naming what your senses are picking up actually does the very same thing. They bring you into the moment, so fully that you can't help but let go of worry and release doubt. 

One of my favorite mindfulness exercises I learned from my mentor, Mel Robbins, is all about the senses. So today, let's try it together. Even if we begrudgingly get mindful, it works all the same. 

So take a moment to put your feet flat on the floor, sit comfortably, and tell me:

5 things you see:

• the letter H on my keyboard
• the brown spots decorating the banana on my table
• this dot that makes a bullet point in my post
• my dog, curled up next to me napping
• the pattern in the arm of the wicker chair

4 things you hear:

• the water coming through the hose as my neighbor waters her plants
• the buzz of a work truck settled on the street behind me
• crickets chirping in the dewy grass
• the "what cheer" bird call of a distant cardinal

3 things you feel:

• the keyboard underneath my fingers
• my other dog's body leaned up against my mid-back (he sits atop the couch cushion behind me)
• the sturdy way my gym shoes are holding my feet

2 things you smell:

• my yummy oat milk latte
• wet grass, earthy smell

1 thing you taste:

• also coffee :)

As I pinpoint each of these moments, name them and focus in on them, the rest of my mind goes quiet. My heart rate slows, I smile even, especially as I feel gratitude to the cuddly dogs and my yummy latte. 

And that's it. That's the practice. A few minutes of settling in and getting present and my whole self has shifted.

You can try this, too. I'd love to hear how it goes. 

With love,
Renee