Everyday life can become dull and repetitive. We can get into a daily grind that we want to escape from. One way to do this is to book a holiday far away in an exotic country with a foreign culture. But there is another way. It is also possible to step out of our daily grind by stepping into the here and now. To deepen our experience of the current moment until we recognise that the current moment is completely unique. That we will never have this exact experience ever again.
So let us dive into the world of the sensuous. Into the deep reality of your own sensuous being. Take this moment to simply give yourself over to the present moment. To the sensations that are right here, right now, without prejudice. Feel the sensations in your body. On your body. The tension, the discomfort, the comfort. Everything.
Now how is that? Moving out of your head and into the present moment can really be as simple as this. We stop paying so much attention to our thoughts and pay attention to our direct experiences instead. But let’s take it one step further. Let’s wake up the hands.
Experience, perhaps for the first time, what it means to live, and not just exist
Cal Newport
In her book The Art of Receiving and Giving, Betty Martin describes an exercise she calls Waking Up The Hands. Our hands are very sensitive and can take up an incredible amount of information. In our daily lives we learn to use our hands as tools, but only rarely do we pay attention to the pleasure that we can receive from our hands.
So let me walk you through the exercise step by step. Start off with getting yourself comfy. Use pillows or whatever propping you need to relax. Next, pick up an object. It does not matter what; your phone, a water bottle, a pen…
Then stay with the object. What does it feel like? The weight, the shape, the temperature. Slow down the speed of your hands. Then slow down again. As you move your attention to the sensation of the object, you will notice that it will start to feel pleasant. Your attention will move away from the object and towards the sensation of the object. Away from the thinking and into feeling.
The hands can process an incredible amount of pleasure. And if you slow down, if you stick with the experience and stay curious, you will experience a click. You will sink into the experience. You know that you reached this click when you have no intention of changing the experience. You will have an aaaaaah-moment. It feels different. It can be very pleasurable and somewhat overwhelming at the same time. Expect some emotions to come up.
Letting go of thought and diving into the direct experience of the here and now can be tremendously powerful. It can be filled with pleasure. And it is not about anything. It’s not about any story that our mind made up. It just is the way it is. And that is enough.
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