How did the French Fry become Mindful? (A technique, not a joke.)
The Mindfulness Talk:
Let’s talk french fries.
Imagine sitting in a busy, noisy mall food court, eating a meal that includes fries. You are tired from shopping and making decisions, a bit in a fog, and someone stops to ask you how the fries are tasting. You look down at your meal with surprise. They are only on your plate because they came with the meal and even though you were eating those fries three at a time, you barely even remember eating them.
Now imagine sitting on a park bench on a chilly spring day with a bag of fries warming your lap. You had bought them after smelling a street vendor on your walk. You pick up the first one and nibble on the end, noticing the salt and the heat. You slowly eat that one fry in several small bites and then with a smile, you reach in to enjoy the next one.
Thich Nhat Hanh describes mindfulness as the difference between “real” and “ghost”. Those mall fries were ghosts, from how they ended up on the plate all the way through how they ended up in the stomach. But I’m guessing those fries weren’t the only ghosts in that scenario. Would a giggling baby have been truly seen? Would a quiet lost child have been fully noticed? Come on, you know what it feels like to be that mall eater! You know the answer. In that scenario, everything is a ghost including the person themself.
Mindfulness and Presence feels the opposite. Small things are noticed and seen. Choices are made, then experienced with the senses. Feelings are noticed and felt.
Here’s the secret sauce for those fries: all you need to turn them from ghost to real is your breath. Just a few slow breaths and the things around you begin to turn real. Right there in the middle of a busy mall. Put that fry into your mouth, notice it and feel it and slowly enjoy it, and suddenly more things around you turn real!
So the next time you notice the ghosts…. just breath. Just breathe and enjoy your fries. And just like magic, you turn real again.
Finding Present Meditation:
Find something to eat. It doesn’t have to be fancy - just quick and handy for this finding presence meditation.
Hold the food close to your nose and begin to notice your breath. With each inhale, notice one new thing about the smell of this food.
As you hold the food, begin to notice how it feels and looks in your hands. With each inhale, notice one new thing about the feel or look of this food.
When you are ready, take one bite but let it sit in your mouth. With each inhale, notice one new thing about the texture of this food.
When you are ready, begin to chew. Chew very slowly. With each inhale, notice one new thing about the taste of this food.
Continue eating this food and becoming present. This can be your meditation today, or move on to the mindfulness meditation.
Mindfulness Meditation:
Put the food down and continue to breathe. Think back to when you held this food close to your nose. Think about the smells you noticed. Don’t be surprised if a memory or thought or feeling floats to your mind. Just notice the thought or feeling like you did the smell - noticing one new thing about it with each inhale.
When you are ready, think back to when you held this food in your hands. Think about the feel and the look that you noticed. Don’t be surprised if a memory or thought or feeling floats to your mind. Just notice the thought or feeling like you did the feel - noticing one new thing about it with each inhale.
When you are ready, think back to when you held this food in your mouth. Think about the texture that you noticed. Don’t be surprised if a memory or thought or feeling floats to your mind. Just notice the thought or feeling like you did the texture - noticing one new thing about it with each inhale.
When you are ready, think back to when you slowly chewed this food. Think about the tastes that you noticed. Don’t be surprised if a memory or thought or feeling floats to your mind. Just notice the thought or feeling like you did the taste - noticing one new thing about it with each inhale.
Closing Routine:
When you are ready, rub fingers together and take three cleansing breaths. Or use any closing routine that works for you.
What is “Intention” and why does it matter? (Hint: It’s a universe thing.)
The Mindfulness Talk:
This past Monday, I was…off. Let me rephrase that. This past Monday, it took me half a day to realize that I was off. I didn’t say anything unusual or do anything different, but the people around me were subtly reacting to my off-ness with their own off-ness. And these subtle interactions continued until I started noticing myself getting tense. That’s when I realized that I was off. Let me rephrase that. I started wondering what the heck was wrong with people today, and then I went on a quick walk, and that’s when I realized it was me that was a bit off.
I didn’t say anything unusual or do anything different, but my intention was different. Karma would say, “bingo!” I wasn’t intending anything bad towards anyone on Monday, but I had a bit of a negative experience over the weekend and that bit of negativity had stuck to me like a staticky sock. It was there when I had all of my normal interactions on Monday, and it shifted my intention ever so slightly. And that was all it took. My people subtly reflected my subtle off-ness. If asked, they would probably have said they didn’t notice anything different and probably didn’t feel any different. But their soul felt the vibes of my soul. Intention.
After realizing what this “off-ness” was all about, I immediately felt guilty. But of course, guilt is just another staticky sock that subtly colors your intention. Well, crap.
Meditation and mindfulness can release negative intention. But there are other ways as well. You can counter that unconscious negative intention with conscious positive intention. As you go through the normal routine of your day, you can consciously send out positive vibes through little prayers or thoughts.
Intention matters. If your words and actions are well thought out but you have a bit of static negativity, don’t be surprised if some “offness” results. On the other hand, even if you bumble your words or mess up your actions, if your intention was clean and clear of negativity than you have done the karma proud.
The best us humans can do is to try and stay aware of our intentions, and to understand that our intentions ripple out into the universe.
The Meditations:
Finding Present Meditation for becoming aware: Maybe you are walking or maybe you are sitting. Become aware of your feet. Maybe take a moment to lift them up one at a time. Notice if they feel cool or warm. Notice if they are feeling tense or relaxed. Notice if they are feeling tired or sore, or relaxed.
Become aware of your hands. Maybe take a moment to move them. Notice if they feel cool or warm. Notice if they are feeling tense or relaxed. Notice if they are feeling sensitive anywhere. Just notice.
Become aware of your breath. Notice if it feels cool or warm. Notice how your breath fills your nose. Notice how your breath fills your head. Just notice.
Continue doing this awareness meditation, or move on to the mindfulness meditation.
Mindfulness Meditation for becoming aware of (and releasing) negative intention: Think back to your first few waking minutes. Recall how your body felt and what thoughts entered your mind. Just think back with curiosity. If you become aware of some negative energy, just keep noticing the negative energy with curiosity until it fades away.
Think back to your first morning hour. Recall how your body felt and what thoughts entered your mind. Just think back with curiosity. If you become aware of some negative energy, just keep noticing the negative energy with curiosity until it fades away.
Slowly think back through the rest of your day so far. Recall how your body felt and what thoughts entered your mind. Just think back with curiosity. If you become aware of some negative energy, just keep noticing the negative energy with curiosity until it fades away.
Closing Routine: When you are ready, rub fingers together and take three cleansing breaths. Or use any closing routine that works for you.
What Olympians have uncovered about mindfulness.
The Olympics brings us into conversation. It’s not just the athletics, but also the reactions and the relationships and the stories. They are so super-human and yet so very, very human.
Which brings me to mindfulness. I came across an article this week on how the mental strategies for Olympians has changed over the years. “Zoning in” to zone out the chaos used to be king. But now it’s mindfulness. Not tuning out the ups and downs, but being very present to them. Not quieting the feelings, but acknowledging them and honoring them.
When explored and fully felt, anxiety and stress can bring forth feelings of “intensity” and “electricity”. And when fully reflected, disappointment and turbulence can grow into feeling so “rooted” that you are gifted with "authenticity".
And as we watch their stories of triumph and loss, it’s a beautiful time to acknowledge and feel our own triumphs and losses. In meditation or during a mindfulness activity (like walking silently), we can tap back to these kinds of moments in our own life - big and teeny tiny small - and fully feel them. We can be curious about what feelings these moments in our own life have grown into.
The Olympics can bring us into conversation with ourselves.
Finding Present Meditation: Think back (or rewatch) an Olympic moment that moved you. Let your mind focus on the emotion, and breathe. Don’t label the emotion as positive or negative - it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are fully feeling it. Feel it in your body. Just focus on the emotion, and breathe.
When you feel present,
Are you in a season of breaking?
Are you in a season of breaking? Maybe it was a rupture, a huge and instantaneous cracking open that shocked you to your core. Maybe it’s a jagged breaking so glacially slow that it has filled you with ice, almost but not quite hiding the scar. Maybe it’s a steady, consistent tapping that threatens to crumble you.
Seasons of breaking are vulnerable and exposing. But in these moments, we might just be open enough to let nature teach us a very valuable lesson. Are you open?
Everything in nature breaks exactly the same way. Scientists recently discovered this lesson. Whether smashed open quickly or slowly crushed or tapped until broken open, everything breaks in exactly the same pattern of big pieces to little pieces. “Regardless of the material or the force used, the force itself geometrically divides any space in the same way,” says scientist Emmanuel Villermaux. Even the surface of a bubble.
Can you hear it? Nature is telling you that you are not alone. Everyone breaks, but we are not disconnected or isolated in our breaking. We all break, but in an intimately connected way.
You are not alone.