There’s a Zen Buddhist saying that, “how you do anything is how you do everything,” so why not so why not slow down a little, approach your day with a little more intention and find just a little more magic.

Mindfulness is simply the act of bringing more intention and awareness into your daily life.

This technique is borrowed from Jon Kabat Zinn’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course and is one of my favorite grounding techniques to invite a little more calm into your day no matter how much time you have.

The “five senses” exercise helps bring some mindfulness to any situation and is a quick way to bring you back into your body and into the present moment. 

To practice:

Notice five things that you can see.

Look around you and bring your attention to five things that you can see. Pick something that you don’t normally notice, like a shadow or a small crack in the concrete.

Notice four things that you can feel.

Bring awareness to four things that you are currently feeling. 

like the texture of your pants, the feeling of the breeze on your skin, or the smooth surface of a table you are resting your hands on

Notice three things you can hear.

Take a moment to listen. 

Take note of three things that you hear in the background. Birds chirping, chirp of a bird, or the faint sounds of traffic from a nearby road.

Notice two things you can smell.

Bring your awareness to any smells around you.  Pleasant or unpleasant. Maybe you catch a whiff of pine trees if you’re outside, or the smell of someone cooking.

Notice one thing you can taste.

Focus on one thing that you can taste right now. Take a sip of a drink, chew a piece of gum, eat a piece of chocolate, pay attention to the taste in your mouth.

Then slowly move back into your day.