For this exercise we need to find a place, any place, with something of nature is present (which, let’s face it, is anywhere and everywhere; the air that you are breathing right now, even the body with which you perceive the world is part of the nature’). .
In this practice and daily life, we begin by honing our powers of perception. Imagine that you have just landed here on planet Earth and are experiencing this reality for the first time. What are you curious about? What did you notice? What aspects of the environment attract your attention?
Open and activate all the senses. What is it to see, hear, feel, smell , learn? Direct your attention to something that gives you pleasure in or around you. Let your attention stay on this object. Resist the usual tendency to quickly move on to something else. Stay with it, explore and investigate all its qualities with your senses.
What happens when you stick with the experience? Often times, the more we look, the more we see, as new layers of detail begin to emerge as the subtleties and nuances of an image are delivered to the patient’s eye. Rich details begin to emerge that we never imagined existed in something so “everyday”.
Once you have “perceived” it, then open yourself fully to “receive” it, open yourself to the experience as if you were assimilating it in your mind and body, savoring and enjoying the details, the nuances and the flavors of the experience.
It begins with intention, deliberately directing your attention to a particular object; then perception – attending to what you are perceiving. Then we can experiment by simply opening up and surrendering to the experience; To really allow the experience to nurture you, you can imagine the experience flowing into you, simply opening yourself up and receiving the goodness that you perceive.
Tune in to the experience in body and mind: How does it feel? What feelings, emotions and thoughts arise? Savor any pleasant feeling, enjoying its warm glow.
Through this process we are training the attention to be flexible: we switch between an external focus and an internal focus, noticing how there really is no separation between internal and external, but simply different aspects of our present moment reality that we can attend to and enjoy. . .
This process only takes 30 seconds or a couple of minutes (it’s always good to enjoy longer if you can) but it can have a subtle but powerful effect on your ability to reduce stress and increase your emotional make you peaceful person.
