Coaching Videos & Tips - August 27 2020 No.667
DIRECTION WITHOUT ATTACHMENT
I'm picking up where we left off at the end of last week's video on attachment or, more to the point, detachment - worth a watch (I think!).
You have, as you probably already know, instant access to all the previous weekly videos and tips in The Archive.
We've arrived at the fifth of our five senses... today you're going to taste.
I want you to select a single piece of something that you eat every day. It could be a single piece of chocolate or a segment of orange, a bite of an apply or a single mouthful of coffee.
Roll it around in your mouth - notice the texture. Feel the taste on the individual taste buds along the length of your tongue. And do it slowly.
Normally, we gobble and slobber - in such a rush that we become completely desentitised. On the other hand, we're talking about coming to our senses.
I've now spent six weeks banging on about coming to our senses. Your five senses (we'll talk about the sixth one some other time) are your only interface with the outside world. And, because of how we cognize or attempt to make sense of the hear and now, our senses are not just sidelined, they are almost completely removed from our understanding of what's going on.
It's ironic, isn't it - in trying to make sense of the moment, we ignore our senses.
Instead, we go through a process of cognitive appraisal where, in order to understand the moment, we add our old, out-dated stored knowledge and, in the process, we make nonsense of it. We don't cognize, we re-cognize because we keep using our stored repetitive patterned thoughts.
But, when we do come to our senses, we see, feel, hear, smell and taste something far more proximate to reality - we get a better feel for what is going on, if you see what I mean or hear what I'm saying!
You may find it crazy that I find it crazy that many people regard food as nothing more than fuel. It's why so many people eat such lack-lustre, often tasteless, over processed food. It's why so many people "grab a sandwich" - on the go, at their desk, on the train. And it's just another way that we have become disconnected from our all-important senses.
Food - and drink (in moderation) - is one of life's greatest gifts. It allows us to be creative, to explore, discover and enjoy. And it should be discovered one mouthful at a time.
And the speed at which I eat drives people crazy... or, perhaps, many of them were already simply normal crazy people. And we all are until we come to our senses.