Using your senses to get into the present moment is one of my favorite ways to practice mindfulness. I’ve been teaching this to individual clients and groups for nearly a decade, and it seems to be a favorite of many others as well. This is a big part of a modality known in therapy land as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and is called Self-Soothing.
Self-soothing is something we do to make ourselves feel better. At its best, it involves us comforting and nurturing ourselves; practices we begin when we are very young and learn to perfect and evolve as we get older. Many of us weren’t taught how to self-soothe, though, not in healthy ways. Often the less-healthy ways of dealing with distress begin by using food (hence, “comfort food”), and for many of us, this sets up a longtime pattern of looking to substances, or to things and people outside of ourselves) for comfort; think alcohol, drugs, people, exercise, shopping, etc. And these things work, for sure. They work until they don’t.
But we have some pretty excellent tools for self-soothing right here within us. Our 5 senses are the cheapest, safest, and most natural way of self-soothing, and are the most perfect for bringing ourselves into the present moment. All of the information we can obtain about the present occurs through our senses.
At any given moment, you can stop and check in with them. What are you seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, right now? That’s the present!
This is an excellent thing to do when you catch yourself in any moment but the present, so thinking about the past or worrying about the future. Check in with your senses and get a feel for what is real right now, because that other stuff is anything but.
If you are feeling particularly distressed or not-so-awesome, you can utilize the practice of Self-Soothing, on purpose. I encourage my clients to make a list of self-soothing activities and objects, and to even make a little kit they can keep with them to use as needed. Here are just a few ideas (this list is endless, so come up with some of your own!):
See: pictures of loved ones, animals, watch a funny and adorable youtube video of your choice or stalk your favorite Instagram dogs (ahem), check out your local art museum (or making art of your own!), Skype with your babe-of-choice, light and watch a candle, look for pictures of dreamy travel destinations and putting them all over your crappy cubicle at work. Or, go outside* and see stuff.
Hear: music, duh (but music that will help you feel how you’d like to feel (happy, calm, or energetic, rather than listening to that heartbreaking or angry-AF song for the 1,000th time)), nature sounds, kids laughing (I hear some people like that), get out into nature* and find some birds, a stream, or a waterfall (or, if you’re on a coast, take your ass to the ocean).
Touch: animals (!), clean sheets or a super soft blanket, cuddle with your love or your bestie, ask for a hug, get outside* and touch everything that won’t give you a rash (sand, leaves, trees, rocks), take a shower or a bath or go swimming, get a massage, dress yourself in the coziest clothes, do “it” (with someone you know and trust and who deserves doing “it” with you).
Smell: candles, incense, essential oils, baby shampoo (?), campfire, coffee, baked goods, cook something, get out into nature* and smell what you can smell (rain, grass, etc.).
Taste: whatever suits your fancy, but this is a tricky one so I’m using full sentences. This is to be done mindfully, not mindlessly, and not using foods or drinks that don’t serve you (more on that in another post). Grab some sweet organic produce from the market. Make yourself your favorite tea or get in the kitchen and prepare your favorite meal with love. Break into your favorite (shade-grown, fair-trade, yada, yada) dark chocolate bar. Get outside* and go apple or berry or avocado picking and eat those things.
* Going outside and getting into nature is one of my answers for almost anything. Although that last one I had to stretch a bit.
