“I arise today through the strength of heaven; Light of sun, radiance of moon, splendor of fire, speed of lightning, swiftness of wind, depth of sea, stability of earth, firmness of rock. ~ Saint Patrick
Your deepest roots are in nature. No matter who you are, or what kind of life you lead, you remain irrevocably linked with the rest of creation. ~ Charles Cook
Welcome to Day 6! Putting It All Together (Full awareness)
Wow, you’ve almost completed your first week of the 21-Day Nature Challenge. Great work!
Now that you have begun sharpening all your senses, (or at least the ones you are aware of) one by one, in a mindful way out in nature, it’s time to just step back and be aware of what just happened.
You willingly chose to focus on one sense a day in nature, sight sound, smell, touch and taste in the present moment. As this happens, whether you know it or not, you are practicing mindfulness.
When we meditate, mindfulness isn’t about shutting thoughts out, but about being aware of them and strengthening your focus muscle. It has been said that trying to keep thoughts from coming into your head is like trying to hold a beach ball under water. You can only do it for so long until it pops up to the surface again.
Today when you’re outside take a minute being mindful of each of your five senses. Take note of what you are observing with each of your individual senses, and in particular, how you feel about it and what it does to your emotions.
As you walk or sit or even run, time yourself for one minute fully use only your eyes to observe everything you see, practicing what we learned on Day 1 – taking notes of shapes, sizes colors, patterns, shadows, hues and light…
Then for the next sixty seconds use only your ears as much as possible. Stop and close your eyes to better zoom your hearing radar in on the sounds around you.
Next use your nose and take in all the aromas, odors, fragrances and scents available to you at this moment.
Then, move on to your sense of touch for a full minute. Reach out, up, over or down and feel the nearest substance within your reach. Try to describe in words what each object or substance feels like, texture, temperature, etc.
And finally, try to taste the wind. If you’re up for it, find something safe and familiar to put between your teeth like a blade of grass or the stem of a dried weed. Note the flavor. Maybe it tastes like “chicken”. (Doesn’t everything?) Maybe it tastes like nothing at all. Take note of that as well.
After you’ve taken five minutes to use all of your senses, use the next fifteen minutes outdoors to put them all together and just soak up the world around you.It’s actually really amazing if you stop to think about it. It might even put you in sensory overload. It’s sort of the opposite of being in a sensory deprivation tank.
You may even begin to feel like a super hero with super powers, knowing that probably less that 1% of the world’s population has even ever tried to be mindful of all of their senses at once. Seriously, after first trying this I was hyper-sensitive to things I hadn’t really been aware of before, especially sounds. Birds in particular, but all sounds all around were literally popping out at me in stereo.
As you learn to be mindful, your mind becomes like a drone with a camera that can zoom way in and up close on only one thing, or, it can zoom way out to take in a bird’s-eye view of the landscape below. It’s up to you what you choose to focus on.
It’s like that with meditation as well. You can be aware of what is happening around you while focusing on a particular thought or detail.
So today, try practicing using each of your senses one at a time and then just relax and absorb the entire world around you. Your day and life will take on a whole new level of enjoyment and heightened awareness. Try it and see! Or hear… or smell or feel or whatever…
Checklist for Day 6
☐ MEDITATION: Day 6 – “Putting It All Together (Full Awareness)” (Listen to this active meditation on iTunes or here at Mountain Zen.)
☐ NATURE WALK: 20 minutes outdoors in a state of full awareness. Try using all of your senses, one at a time for one minute each, and then all at once taking in your surroundings.
☐ JOURNAL: What is the one sense you are most grateful for (and would hate to lose over any other?) Why?
How did it feel using them all at once in a very intentional, mindful way?
That’s it for Day 6!
Don’t forget to post your pictures, experiences, observations and questions and share them on our 21-Day Nature Challenge Facebook Community Group page.
We’ll see you back here tomorrow for Day 7!
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