Quiet Your Mind - Take the Senses Census
Busy lives, busy brain.
They seem to go hand in hand.
Does any of this seem familiar? You're sitting at your desk working, but your brain isn't focused on the work at hand.
Your brain is thinking about the other 50 things you need to do that have nothing to do with your work.
Or how about this: someone is talking to you, but your brain has wandered from the conversation.
You realize somewhere during the chat that you have no idea what the other person has just said.
Of course there's the famous "I just drove home, but I have no recollection of the journey it took to get here.
" That last one is certainly a good example of how we "drive" through our lives as if the journey is not worthy of our full attention.
Many of us tend to treat each moment before us as if it's merely a means to an end rather than what it really is: the only thing we've got.
Think about that for a minute.
What else do we have? The past is long gone and no one can predict the future.
The culprit, of course, is our brains and our thinking patterns.
How can we possibly be expected to concentrate on the here and now when we have to remember to put the laundry in the dryer, pick up toilet paper at the store, sign a permission slip, and schedule a doctor's appointment? I, myself, am on a mission to live more presently and have discovered a very simple technique that helps me everyday.
I call it the senses census.
In any given moment when I feel that my mind is racing to the past or the future, I stop and take note of what every one of my senses is experiencing.
What do I see, hear, feel, smell, taste? It's amazing what comes alive before you in the moment.
Experiences that would normally never hit your radar come before you for your fullest attention.
You realize just how much you're missing when you live unconsciously.
The senses census also encourages you to give your complete attention to anyone who's talking to you.
Isn't that how it should be? Isn't that what we all deserve when we're talking to someone? Take the senses census frequently during the day and your brain has no choice but to become totally present, ready to experience life in each moment to its' fullest.
They seem to go hand in hand.
Does any of this seem familiar? You're sitting at your desk working, but your brain isn't focused on the work at hand.
Your brain is thinking about the other 50 things you need to do that have nothing to do with your work.
Or how about this: someone is talking to you, but your brain has wandered from the conversation.
You realize somewhere during the chat that you have no idea what the other person has just said.
Of course there's the famous "I just drove home, but I have no recollection of the journey it took to get here.
" That last one is certainly a good example of how we "drive" through our lives as if the journey is not worthy of our full attention.
Many of us tend to treat each moment before us as if it's merely a means to an end rather than what it really is: the only thing we've got.
Think about that for a minute.
What else do we have? The past is long gone and no one can predict the future.
The culprit, of course, is our brains and our thinking patterns.
How can we possibly be expected to concentrate on the here and now when we have to remember to put the laundry in the dryer, pick up toilet paper at the store, sign a permission slip, and schedule a doctor's appointment? I, myself, am on a mission to live more presently and have discovered a very simple technique that helps me everyday.
I call it the senses census.
In any given moment when I feel that my mind is racing to the past or the future, I stop and take note of what every one of my senses is experiencing.
What do I see, hear, feel, smell, taste? It's amazing what comes alive before you in the moment.
Experiences that would normally never hit your radar come before you for your fullest attention.
You realize just how much you're missing when you live unconsciously.
The senses census also encourages you to give your complete attention to anyone who's talking to you.
Isn't that how it should be? Isn't that what we all deserve when we're talking to someone? Take the senses census frequently during the day and your brain has no choice but to become totally present, ready to experience life in each moment to its' fullest.
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