What did you last ‘Take Notice’ of?

Amy explores what Mindfulness has to do with broccoli.

I first heard of mindfulness around 8 or 9 years ago when I worked in the training department of a large health and social care company. We struggled to get bookings for the ‘mindfulness’ course, maybe because nobody quite understood what it meant and how it would help. Perhaps the course would have explained exactly that, but people were unwilling to gamble taking time out of their busy schedules to find out. That’s why at Boo we call it ‘Taking Notice’ instead. It’s one of the modules of our popular ‘Caring for Yourself’ programme.

Whether it’s really concentrating on a task you’re participating in, noticing your current environment or just making an effort to consciously live in the present moment, taking notice is a really effective technique to pause the whirring of your brain as it busies itself with tackling hypothetical future issues. This helps you to enjoy life more.

How many experiences are ruined because you’re too busy planning what’s for tea or having an argument with someone in your head or holding on to a bit of road rage from an hour ago? Your mind runs off and leaves your body on autopilot – not really tasting food, not really present with your loved ones, not really seeing a beautiful view and not really relaxing in your ‘down time’.

I can recall times in my life when I’ve really taken notice – before I ever knew that mindfulness was a thing. I remember being a child forced to eat vegetables I disliked. Having merrily wolfed down everything else on my plate without it touching the sides, I was now painfully aware of each bite of broccoli. I chewed slowly …really tasting its awfulness …putting off the moment I had to swallow, and this only increased my suffering.

I’ve been unintentionally mindful in happier circumstances too. I am usually famished by dinner time at a wedding or any other formal meal in which there’s been a single allocated bread roll waiting on the table, so I can’t resist eating it. Not merely eating it, savouring it, appreciating its lovely breadiness, trying to draw it out until the starter comes (…is this just me?). The final day of holiday, mere hours before you fly back to your rainy commute, feeling the sun on your skin and soaking up those last rays, breathing in the smell of sea air and suncream, closing your eyes for a few more minutes of listening to the waves… you get the idea and can probably think of your own examples.

We wallow and ruminate over circumstances that upset us, why not wallow in life’s pleasant moments too? In between, let’s bring ourselves back to calm by practising in our everyday moments. Here’s one tip of many in our Caring For Yourself programme:

Next time you get into your car, as you put your key into the ignition, sit back and take 3 slow deep breaths. Then notice your environment and the weather before starting your journey.

It really works. We ask our participants what they get from each session. Giving just a few recent examples: ‘Taking Notice’, they said taught them to “take stock and enjoy every moment” to “slow down and retrain my brain to think about the present” and to “recalibrate my focus back where it needs to be”. Sounds good!

Here’s a recent case study of our Caring for Yourself programme, click to find out more.

Amy and Team Boo