Mindfulness. We hear that term quite often these days. I for one am very grateful that things like meditation and mindfulness are gaining more momentum. It has tremendous benefits for all.
In this short video, I take you along on a little mindfulness walk in nature. I show you what sort of things to look for and some tips and tricks to settle your mind. Becoming “one” with your surroundings is not guaranteed, but following the tips in this little video will definitely help you along the right path.
If the thought of sitting through a 20-minute video, listening to my dulcet tones is too intimidating, then below is a quick bullet point summary that should help get you started.
Let me know if you have any questions or anything you think I should add. Mindfulness is a large topic in itself, and with this video we are just scratching the surface. There’s a lot more depth that, if I can find an easy way to convey that information, I will do so in another video soon.
- Find a quiet place in nature preferably away from other people or at least not overly crowded.
- Walk into your surroundings a short distance and then stop and stand perfectly still.
- Take a few moments to take some deep breaths and feel the air moving in and out of your lungs.
- Become aware of your body. Feel your clothing on your skin. Feel the weight pressing into your shoes. Feel the cold or heat on your face. Feel the breeze.
- Start to become aware of your surroundings. With your eyes closed, listen for sounds. Try not to identify the sounds, just listen as though they were noise and don’t try to determine what is making the noise
- Now open your eyes, and do the same. Look around at your surroundings but don’t try to label things. Try to see the environment as one ever changing color palette with transitions from darks and lights, but no independent objects.
- Now slowly start to move through your environment and become aware of all of the sensations at once. Sounds, smells, touch, and of course, sight.
- Find objects that seem to stand out, and go and look at them closely. Taking the time to notice the textures, the colors. Get absorbed in the really fine details. Your mind only has so much vocabulary to label objects, and the closer you get to something, your mind runs out of labels causing it to temporarily stop chattering.
- Notice the stillness during those moments. It’s not silence, but stillness and calm, caused by the lack of mind activity.
Hopefully these moments of calm will get longer and longer as you become more mindful of your surroundings. And there’s a chance that your surroundings will no longer be objects separated by space, but will all become one object that is merely light and dark and transitions of color. All sounds become one sound as your mind stops trying to identify the source of the sound.
And if you also become one with the environment you have achieved oneness. Although, of course, technically you didn’t achieve anything, you simply stopped searching and allowed the moment to happen. It’s a complete lack of trying.
Well, I hope you found this article helpful. Let me know if you have any questions.
Be kind.
Mat
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