Mindful Doing Meditation

Hello everyone! Welcome to this episode of the Mindful in Minutes podcast. I'm Kelly and today we are doing a mindful doing meditation. So this is the companion practice to the Practicing Mindfulness daily free-form episode. That is the episode right before this one in your podcast feed and it is guidance on basically doing something mindfully. So I recommend listening to that episode for some more context if you're curious about mindfulness, what it is, how to practice it. But for this practice what you'll want to do is pick something to do during this meditation like folding laundry, going for a walk, doing your dishes, gardening, anything. So pick that thing. Pause me for a moment if you need to and then let's dive right in. We'll begin just by setting an intention for this task, this thing we're doing. So before we even begin you could say something like, for the next few minutes I will stay present with this task and complete it with joy or something like that. Just pick your activity and set your intention right now and now take a few deep breaths and think about how many times in your life have you done this activity before? How many times a day, a week, a month do you do this activity? Does it hold any significance or importance in your life? What is it usually like? And then coming back to your intention of what you would like it to be this time. And now begin your task. You don't necessarily have to do it slower than you normally would. Maybe you do, but you don't have to. But just move and do with intention and curiosity. Just being present as you begin this task. And first as you're starting this task, look around and notice what you see. What colors, textures, objects are present. Connect with your sense of sight and notice all that you see during this certain activity. And now think about how it feels when you do this. What part of your body are you using? What muscles? What does it feel like on your skin? As you continue your task, just be present with what you feel during it. Now activate your sense of hearing. What sounds are created by this activity? Are you the one creating the sounds or maybe there's sounds already present? Do this task but experience it through your sense of hearing. Now check in with smell and taste. Do you smell anything? Do you taste anything as you do this? What is that like? And just continue to do your activity using your senses. Being fully present with each moment of it. Every moment, every sound, every repetition, every action. Be present for it. Experience it. Try your best to infuse joy and curiosity and gratitude into this activity, task or chore. Just continue to be present. If the mind's wandered, you can always bring it back. And do this thing as if it's the first, last and only time you'll be doing it, but yet you have to remember it forever. Immerse yourself in this experience. Be mindful as you do. The point here is doing, not completing. Now welcome in even more gratitude. Whether it be for the fact that you are here and alive and able to do this thing, or maybe it's gratitude for something else. How can you infuse a little more joy and gratitude into this activity, making it genuinely pleasant and enjoyable? And you can continue with this activity until you're complete, but this is where I will leave you with my guidance. But feel free to continue on because you know what to do here. And thank you so much for joining me.