Category: Mindfulness Challenge for the Week

The mindfulness challenge this week will be admittedly be a horrendous undertaking for most of you if indeed you decide you would like to run with it.  The challenge is simply this; when you eat or when you drink anything, just eat and just drink. Do nothing else at the same time.

What do you typically do when you actually eat something?  Are you walking or driving or watching TV?  Perhaps you are watching a movie or reading, or working on the computer or texting someone. Many people like to eat when they listen to music or play video games.  Do you eat when you exercise?  What do you do typically when you eat?  What do you do in addition to eating besides the simple act of placing food into your body?

For this week the challenge and the invitation is to remove all of those extra activities that you add to the activity of eating and consuming food and liquids.  It goes without saying that many of us like to eat in the company of another person. We love to have conversations with those we love. Please do not eliminate that activity.  But when you do talk with loved ones, stop eating.  In other words, disentangle the two activities.

When you eat, focus your full attention on the food itself –

• on the chewing
• on the taste
• on the sensations in your mouth
• on the feeling in your stomach  

Treasure each and every bite as if it were your last. Add no other activity as you eat.  This may well add considerable time to how long it takes to finish a meal. If you have to eat and run, you will have to set aside this challenge temporarily.

Try it and see how this alters the entire experience of ingesting nutrition into that most precious, sacred body of yours.

Notice when your body likes the food you eat.

Notice when it does not like the food you eat.

When we notice, we become aware in the moment of precisely what our body needs to heal. If a cow can eat mindfully, so can we!

I have my fingers crossed that this challenge will not become too horrendous for you.  But be warned, it will be difficult. You will likely be surprised at how often you do much more than simply eat. My favorite “add on” activity to eating is thinking. It is so easy to divert our attention from a place away from the most important activity of the day.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

Most people live very busy, active lives. We turn from one task, one self-assignment to the next without any pause whatsoever.  Our thoughts circle around from one to another also without any pause whatsoever.  We operate on a continuous fast forward speed without any stopping whatsoever, until our heads hit the pillow at the end of the evening.

My mindfulness challenge this week offers you an opportunity to slow the quick pace of your life down.  Remember, this quick pace is a primary factor that induces stress in your life. You well know by now at this stage of the Parkinsons Recovery Mindfulness Program that stress is a sure bet to make symptoms much, much worse.

How then do you slow the quick pace of your life down with the mindfulness challenge this week?  It is actually easy to do.  The challenge is this. Each time the telephone rings –whether it is a land line or a cell phone – instead of immediately rushing to pick up the receiver and say,

“Hello.  Robert here, how can I help you?” 

Pause.  Take three slow mindful breaths after the phone rings the first time.  The phone of course will be ringing three, four, five, maybe even six times as you pause from what you were doing to what you are about to engage.  Once your three breaths are completed, pause, center yourself, pick up the receiver and then say,

“Hello.  Robert here.  How may I help you, today?” 

Of course please substitute your name for mine when you answer.  We do not want to proliferate the world with more Roberts.

There is a huge difference in how we answer the phone when we are rushed. When we are rushing we hurriedly say,

“Hello-Robert here, how-can-I-help-you!” 

When we are mindful to each and every moment, when we are living in the present, we say slowly, mindfully and lovingly.

 “Hello?  This is Robert.  How, may I help you, today?” 

The difference is huge. It kicks off a conversation from a much better place. The person on the other end of the line does not also feel rushed. Becoming mindful when we answer the phone also nurtures our own sanity. It helps to maintain that critical balance in our body that enables our neurological system to flourish and function precisely the way that intricate system was designed to function in the first place.

Have fun each time the telephone rings.  Remember, change the pattern of how you always respond.  Do that when the phone rings by:

1. Taking three, long, slow, mindful breaths. 
2. Pausing at the end of those three breaths.
3. Centering yourself as you prepare for a new experience.

Be excited about what the person on the other end of a line will want to discuss with you.  Have a delightful time as you reduce stress in your life using this very simple but powerful mindfulness exercise.  When we slow ourselves down, we begin to treasure  each moment rather than rushing off to the next one.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery