A Flexible Way to Sneak Mindful Awareness into Your Day

It only takes a few seconds to toggle from making sense to sensing mindfully, but the benefits of this habit aren’t obvious from the outside.

We can’t imagine the impact of doing whatever we’re doing with a little less internal friction.

We have to experience it.

Pause to notice real-time sensory details

This is simple, but not easy. Let’s break it down.

Pause to notice

Pause while walking to the bathroom, standing in line, or waiting for a red light to change.

Pause before or after sending an email.

When your phone buzzes, pause before you respond.

The trickiest part is remembering to do it.

Picking a trigger or two each day can help.

Shoot for remembering to pause more often than never.

Real-time sensory details

Any observable detail will work.

When you’re drinking coffee, really smell it, taste it, or feel the warmth of the cup for a few seconds.

Notice how your socks feel.

During a Zoom meeting, secretly explore any body sensations related to boredom, enthusiasm, or agitation.

What makes this part challenging is that we tend to skip right to the evaluation of what we notice.

Try to explore these questions instead:

• What’s it like to see?

• What’s it like to hear?

• What’s it like to smell?

• What’s it like to taste?

• What’s it like to feel?

Instead of answering them verbally, try to experience the answers briefly and directly through your senses.

Pause from making sense to get intimately acquainted with the process of noticing itself.

You’ll be surprised how quickly ordinary moments start to feel richer and more alive.