The practical exercises in the Writing and Mindfulness Challenge investigate the links between being present and noticing the world around us and writing. Yesterday’s task was to simply have a five minute tea break and to notice what was going on around you. I suggested repeating this three times, if you had the space in your day.
Now it’s really going to help you with the rest of this Writing and Mindfulness Challenge if you keep up with this tea break – do it every day. I’m going to call it a tea break – and I think sniffing your favourite cup of herbal or fruity tea during proceedings is a good way of stimulating the senses – but it’s the pause in your day that’s the most important part. You don’t have to drink tea for it to work. Crucially, don’t do anything else during this tea break apart from drinking a cuppa and noticing the world around you. If you can manage 3 of these pauses per day, great. By the way, if you don’t usually do this it feels like a real treat.
Here’s what to do on day two. Get your notebook and pen or digital equivalent and make a note of all the different kinds of green you can see. Walking around may help. There are no rules about what kind of green, you’re simply noticing the colour green. For example, right now I can see the green on my mug, the green leaves of the tree outside my window, the green of the label on the fruit juice my son is drinking, the green of the blackberry bush next to the fence, the green of our compost bin and the green cover of the recipe book on the shelf next to me. If green doesn’t work for you, pick a different colour.
If any of the senses we focus on aren’t available to you, use any of the others.
Next, note down the smells you can notice. This is likely to be slightly more proactive. Walking around may help will help with this one too. I had to deliberately sniff my tea and my hands! Right now, I can smell my fruity tea, my handcream, the bin lorry outside collecting the rubbish – until I closed the window – the fabric softener on my top and lunch cooking in the oven.
It may be tempting simply to think about the smells and colours around you – but this is a writing and mindfulness challenge so writing these things down is an important part of the process. Let me know how you get on in the comments.
If you want to extend this activity, repeat it three times during the day. Every time you stop for your tea break, spend 5 minutes simply noticing the world around you. Then pick up your notebook or digital equivalent and note 1) the colour green and 2) what you can smell.
Come back tomorrow for the next part of the Writing and Mindfulness Challenge.
Until then, happy writing,
Lou