You're doing it anyway. Every day. Every hour. Every second. You see the colors, the movement. You hear voices, footsteps, wind. You feel the texture of your clothes or the air on your skin. Taste your saliva, the lingering flavors of your last meal. Smell flowers, food.
Your senses are active all the time, flooding you with information that is most often ignored. And sometimes, it needs to be. You need to filter those things out to allow your mind to focus. Maybe. Even as I'm writing, I notice the pads of my hands resting on the keyboard, the clack of the keys. It's like accompaniment to the experience of writing, of being in this moment.
But for an hour every day, imagine that accompaniment as the foreground of your life. An entire hour of deep sensual experience. Perhaps do it during lunch, noticing the flavors of every morsel, the speed of your bites, the textures of voices, the temperature of your silverware.
Perhaps try it the next time you make love. Indulge in the sensations in your hands and arms and legs and feet, see the color of your lover's eyes. Or try it on a long walk, taking everything in through the senses, letting the thoughts that usually distract you fade in favor of feeling your weight shift on your foot as you step.
And, as you get better, try noticing in times not so obviously sensual. Like at work, or the grocery store, or watching TV. Yet, even those things, once you think about it, are filled with input from all your senses.
Simply notice. Even for 15 minutes to start. Remember: You don't have to do anything different. This doesn't have to take any extra time from your day. Just shift the way you perceive things for a few minutes - or an hour. And after awhile, you'll also notice how your perception broadens, how your curiosity sharpens, how delicious every moment can be.
Comments
Mmmmmmm...... what about the taste of a fresh strawberry, or the feel of the wind blowing on your skin. Its all good. It helps me feel more to spend some time just in my own skin. Thank you, Ephraim. I will think about this during my week.
I always enjoy your writing, and I need all the reminders I can get to be Present. Thank you.
as all things leave residue of aura around them, so do the delicious thoughts of chocolate and how it may slowly melt in your mouth, languishing, with the sharp bite of chili's at your tongue. namaste'
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