_This is the last article in the four part series inspired by the work on mindfulness in everyday by Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn, where we have been adding one activity at a time that we are doing in a state of mindfulness.

This week we will be focusing on bathing or showering – another one that hopefully everyone is partaking in at least once a day!

I thought it would be nice to end this series of exercises with an easier one, however, don’t be fooled into thinking that you generally are in a sate of alert relaxation while you bath or shower. Notice how this activity is often done with great haste and little attention, and for how much of it you are lost in thought. Few people are ever really present in the bath or a shower, but are mostly already in the office, in bed, or on their way out in terms of their headspace. Our bodies, for the most part, clean themselves!

So, this week, appreciate your bathroom time.

Be completely absorbed in the experience by making use of your all your senses:
– smells – soap, mustiness, bath oils, sweat...
- sounds – water running, splashing, sounds filtering in from outside the bathroom, your breathing...
- feelings – warmth, cold, pressure, muscles unwinding, the relative roughness of the sponge against your skin...
- sights – steam, bubbles, your reflection in the tap...

Notice any invading thoughts and watch them dissipate. Notice any emotions that come up and allow them to be and pass.

Take your time. See if you can extend your mindfulness to drying and dressing yourself afterwards.

Having a bath or shower is an amazing experience and a great privilege. Enjoy every minute of it.

By this stage you should find that just by doing these arbitrary daily activities in a state of mindfulness that you are now spending a significant portion of your day in meditation. That is how easy it is to increase your consciousness and bring a sense of peace to your life. Do your best to continue brushing your teeth, doing your dishes, eating and bathing in a state of alert attention. These are just a few activities that I have chosen as I felt that they would apply to everyone, but don’t limit yourself to these – try to extend this awareness to as many areas of your life as you can until your whole life is a living meditation.

Stay clean, stay pure, stay peaceful!

The next four posts are inspired by the course that I attended on mindfulness in everyday life based on the work of Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn.

The idea is to bring the sense of meditative awareness and presence into everyday life. So, over the next 4 posts we will add one activity per blog that we will be doing in a state of mindfulness. I will be choosing 4 very mundane daily activities that we normally do in a state of unconsciousness, thinking about something else or simply acting out on auto-pilot. The thing is, a large portion of our lives is made up of mundane daily activities – things that we normally do as a means to an end – brushing our teeth, doing the dishes, driving to work. Seldom do we stop and revel in the wonder of these simple tasks that have become background to our lives. What we will attempt over the next 4 blogs is to bring our meditation into as many areas of our lives as we can, so that in the long run our whole lives become a meditation, a celebration of life itself.

This time we will focus on brushing our teeth – an activity that hopefully everyone is engaging in a least once, if not twice a day. I suggest that you put a post-it note or something up on your bathroom mirror to remind you of this one, as after a whole lifetime of doing this unconsciously it might be easy to slip back into old habits.

So, every time you brush your teeth, use this as a meditation. Without bringing the thinking mind in to analyse every movement, try to be aware of some of the following...

 - how wonderful it is to have a toothbrush. Watch a little child when they get their first toothbrush and see the excitement and wonder of this familiar everyday object. Try to reclaim a little of that wonder and freshness.
 - take a good look at your toothpaste. Notice every little movement of your body involved in fetching your chosen paste, opening it up, putting it onto your toothbrush. Bring it up to your nose and smell it. Put a little bit on your tongue and experience the intensity of the taste.
 - then as you brush your teeth, try to be aware of all the sensations involved – taste, smell, feeling, sounds. Notice what your tongue is doing as you brush – how it moves out of the way. Notice the different sensations as you brush different areas. Try brushing your tongue, or even running the toothbrush over your lips. Notice the different movements involved in getting to all areas.
 - If you slip into auto-pilot, don’t stress, Just notice how easily that happens and bring yourself back to the task at hand.
 - If you find that your mind wanders or tries to label / name / analyse everything you are doing, bring awareness to your breath, and keep some awareness on the breath as you continue.
 - listen to the sounds of the water as you turn it on to rinse. Feel the sensations of this – the heat or cold, and the different tastes before and after you rinse.
 - notice any small details along the way. Stay focused in the present and totally engaged in the activity that you are busy with.

Ok, I realise that if you brushed your teeth like this every day it would take more time than you have allocated to this activity. However, you can brush your teeth in the same amount of time and stay totally present and aware of all sensations and your breathing. It helps in the beginning to take a little more time and exaggerate the experience to draw you out of the lifetime of unconscious activity that preceded this week. So, if you can, spend a little more time on the first few days and then as the week goes on see if you can bring the time down and still keep the same level of awareness.

By the way, don’t be surprised if your mind resists this activity with all its might. It will most likely tell you that this is silly and mundane and that there is no awesomeness or wonder in brushing your teeth and that it will not further any of your great plans that you have for yourself. Let it rant, notice this, and laugh. There is only this moment, right now, so whether you are reading this or brushing your teeth or making a life changing decision, the wonder of life is in this moment. Enjoy every second of it.

Happy brushing!

All the great spiritual teachers over time have recommended this simple, yet powerful meditation:

Sit quietly for 10-20 minutes twice a day, with your eyes closed, and ask yourself “Who Am I?”. Don’t try to answer the question, simply allow the silence that follows it to be. Know that any answer that comes from the mind is a thought form, and cannot be who you truly are. This question cannot be answered on the level of form. If your mind starts to wander, as it inevitably does, ask the question again, and again sit in the stillness.

Try to keep this question in mind as you go about your week. Whenever you catch yourself defining yourself or playing a role, ask yourself if that is really who you are. Question even your most fundamental of assumptions – Are you your body? Are you your mind? Are you your personality? Are you a person? Find out who you are by finding out first who you are not. Once you have stripped yourself of everything that you are not, then only what you are will remain!

"Ask yourself, 'Who is reading this?' It's not who you think." - JDH
 
Wishing You a wonderful week of Self discovery!

This week’s exercise was inspired by my friend James. Here’s what he had to say:

"Every cent you spend is a vote. A vote towards what you want made, how you
want it made, by whom and at what expense to the world and its inhabitants. Every vote counts."
 - JDH                            

So, your task for this week is to go shopping! Ok, not exactly. Simply do the normal shopping you would have done this week, but allow a bit more time for it. The idea this week is to become conscious of how much of what we consume is actually a need and how much is pure desire, and the effects of these desires on ourselves and the world at large. So, while you are shopping (or consuming in any form), start to ask yourself some of the following questions:

Do I really need this?

What effect will this purchase have on me? Included in this question could be things things like... Does this food have hidden sugar /salt / hydrogenated fats / E numbers / etc that may be hazardous to my health? Does it have true nutritional value or is it simply filler? Is this likely to damage my liver / kidneys / lungs / brain? Will I be absorbing any chemicals / pesticides / etc used in the production of this product? (Read the label of every single product you buy – you’ll be surprised at what you have been taking in without even knowing it.)

What effect will this purchase have on others? Included in this could be things like... Is this something that is in short demand? Has it been manufactured at a reduced cost by using ‘sweat shop’ style labor or replacing jobs with machinery?  Am I using money on a superfluous product which could rather be spent on helping someone with a real need? Was anyone physically harmed or threatened during the manufacture or distribution of this product?

What effect will this purchase have on the environment? Included in this could be things like... How much waste will be created from the packaging? How many pollutants entered the world through its manufacturing process? Does it contain hazardous chemicals that may get into the water supply or affect the animals or plants in your environment? Has this product been produced by a company that tests on animals? Will this product ultimately end up in a landfill / the sea? Is there an alternative product that would be less harmful to the environment? How long will it take for this product or its packaging to break down?

Then try to extend your questions beyond an actual shopping trip. Become aware of how you function in consumer mode almost from the minute you wake up, and sometimes even in your sleep... Every time you turn on a light or a tap you are consuming and your consumption is affecting your world. Consider how many times you boil a kettle in the day. Do you leave lights on when you’re not even in the room? Do you leave the tap running while you brush your teeth? Do you run the hot tap when you could have used the cold? Do you leave your computer or other appliances on standby overnight? These are just a few issues that I can think of offhand, but try to move through your day with awareness, catching yourself in unconscious consumerism as much as possible.

Imagine for a minute that everyone in the world was exactly the same as you, with the same desires and habits and morality. Imagine the 6 billion people in the world all thinking and acting exactly like you. What kind of a world would you be living in? Would you be happy to say that you were responsible for that world exactly the way it is? You are.

Happy shopping!