Feel More Alive

The impact of mindful awareness shifts increases over time.

Photo: Andy Spessard

Mindful awareness habits strengthen your ability to shift your attention in natural but liberating ways. 

The trickiest part is remembering to do them consistently.

Between now and the end of the month, try to pause to notice sensory details during ordinary activities—more often than never.

It doesn’t matter what you’re doing. You can be standing, sitting, lying down, or moving.

You can stop or slow down. You can stay actively engaged in whatever you’re doing. 

The subtle, imperceptible move is to briefly shift the spotlight of your attention to any sensation or perception on purpose: sights, sounds, smells, flavors, body sensations, or feelings.

We tend to skip right to the evaluation of whatever we notice: 

• Do you like it or not like it?

• Is it beautiful or ugly?

• Good or bad?

• The best or the worst?

You can start to erode this default habit by getting more acquainted with the process of noticing itself.

Explore:

• What’s it like to see right now?

• What’s it like to hear?

• What’s it like to smell or taste?

• What’s it like to touch or feel something?

Instead of trying to answer these questions using words, try to sense the answers without any obligation to put them into words.

This exercise might seem too simple to be meaningful.

Even though each shift only takes a few seconds, the impact accumulates over time to support feeling more alive regardless of the circumstances.