Bonus Meditation: Come To Your Senses

"Wherever you are. Be all there." -Jim Elliot

One of the ways you can practice "being all there" and more present is to bring awareness to specific senses. Focus on what you see, hear, smell, touch and taste.

Whether you pick just one sense or all five, you can "come to your senses" more fully wherever you are; during class, at a work meeting, at home or in the park...Doing an exercise like this one has a dual effect; it simultaneously wakes up your brain and brings clarity to thought, as well as calms the nerves. So whether you get easily distracted, need to come out of a mental fog and clear your head or feel a panic attack coming on...observing the feedback of your senses helps bring balance which helps all three scenarios!

Being present isn't about trying to silence the mind or resisting an emotion...it is about being very aware or the feelings, the thoughts and the body; accepting what is and learning from it.

Doing a mediation like this one helps you BE PRESENT by...
-Silently observing without judgement.
-Letting go of attachment to outcomes.
-Connecting with yourself and your surroundings.
-Quieting the "monkey mind"; which is constantly projecting into the future or rehashing the past.