Right now, life feels like an all-you-can-eat buffet, when you can’t stop eating.  There is so much information coming at us from all angles - so much news, and promotional material, and advice to consume…it’s too much.

This is where practices like mindfulness, meditation, even restorative yoga can be so helpful.  They encourage us to step back, away from the barrage of information; to pause from consuming, and simply be with what is already there. 

Yesterday, as a break from creating and consuming, I took myself out for a walk on the bike path near my house.  It was so beautiful – the first warm and sunny day we’ve had in months.  I had no agenda: just walking, listening to the symphony of birds singing, reveling in the sunshine - so glorious.  I decided to really listen, to try and hear each individual bird’s voice within the whole of the song.  As I continued on, just listening, I tuned in to the sound of my own footsteps on the wet asphalt and the swooshing sound of bike tires in the puddles.  A pair of friends walking were talking about 2-family homes. And then the crisp sound of scurrying as a squirrel made its way through the icy, melting snow, just listening…nothing else.
 
At some point, I let my attention switch to the sensation of the warmth of the sun on my face, and simultaneously the chill of my hands from the cool moisture coming off the melting snow. How warm and cozy I felt in my too-heavy-for-60-degrees winter coat and scarf.

Our senses can offer us so much information about what is happening now, and that’s what mindfulness practices ask us to do:  to be present with what is without expectation, or judgment, or a desire to change things. We notice and arrive in the moment.
 

• What do you hear right now?

• What is the temperature of your skin?

• What do you see?

• What do you smell?

 
Let this gentle inquiry draw you into now, so that you can just be with whatever is.