11.48 am
Oops! I’ve forgotten to set up my writing-tunes playlist and Stevie Nicks has just started belting out a live rendition of Rhiannon into my headphones. I’m torn - I love Stevie (she’s my childhood girl crush) but when I’m with her - I want to really be with her. To dance like nobody’s watching, and sing like nobody’s listening. 

Have you ever had one of those moments? Where your thoughts, your judgements, your resistance just seemingly disappear? That's what it's like when it’s just me and Stevie being taken by the wind with wild abandon, there’s only the present moment, and it’s pure, non-judgemental joy. And that folks, is mindfulness 101.

“Mindfulness is paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment non-judgmentally
(as if your life depended on it).”
Jon Kabat-Zinn

I let Stevie finish (out of respect of course) as I search my music library for something a little more ‘mindfully’ appropriate. ‘Peace Music’ fits the bill.

Right now I’m writing this blog post and trying to be as present as I can - because my goal, my mission is to bring the present moment to you via the present moment. I don’t want to be thinking about the upcoming Facebook live, whether the rain is spoiling our freshly oiled deck, or the nut-free vegan cake I’m planning to bake for my nephew’s 21st. I want to Be Here Now.

I’m momentarily distracted because Lucy (Intrinsic’s sales and marketing assistant) has just walked in. She needs my phone and is turning off my soothing tunes to do whatever it is she needs to do. Returning my eyes to the blog post, I’m aware of Lucy behind me, with my phone, and vow to get my zen back on. 

Only, random thoughts are popping into my head. I look at the clock, it's 12.23…how did that time go so fast….damn, I was just on a roll….how long will this take to write…maybe I’ll just wait till she’s finished…will anyone even know who Stevie Nicks is…should I be writing a more structured piece about the benefits of meditation…

Years of practice have taught me that even though these thoughts and feelings have started bubbling up, I don’t need to let them marinate or get caught up in them. Once upon a time I might have felt frustration at the interruption, or gone off on a different tangent, but as I catch myself starting to wander off with my thoughts, I realise it's time to put mindful attention into practice. I'm not trying to stop my thoughts, I am simply shifting the attention to my hands typing this post on the keyboard. I wonder at the fact that I can touch type. 

I turn my awareness to the buttons on the keyboard - and the buttons I’ve never used: F5 and F6. Then F7, 8 and 9 which also happen to be shortcuts to play, stop, rewind and forward….Huh, I never even noticed that before! Wow, we should do a mindfulness challenge all around the keyboard - something we use almost every day and probably take little or no notice of at all.

It reminds me how much of what we do is on auto-pilot - and we can really miss finding the magic in the moment. I mean here I am, experiencing an awakening over a keyboard! Mindful awareness is a gamechanger.  

I express thanks to the keyboard for the mindful lesson and for being the conduit to get words from my brain (thank you brain) down to my touch-typing fingers (thanks fingers,) and onto the page (thank you software). 

And so we’ve arrived at one of my favourite mindful practices: gratitude. Right at this minute, I’m feeling truly chuffed, marveled, and grateful - and when you’re in the moment of being filled with that kind of gratitude - it’s near impossible to feel grumpy, stressed, or that you’re missing out. 

It’s 3.48. Time has fallen away - along with awareness of my thoughts, and any judgement I was feeling about this post. There's a feeling in my body, a deep smile welling up from my insides that I can only describe as the feeling of contentment.

And that's the magic of mindfulness. Right here. Right now.

Love and Light,
Adèle xx

With so many well-written articles on mindfulness, I felt the best contribution I could offer on the subject was to take you on a ‘present moment’ experience.

My goal was to share the idea that mindfulness isn’t something lofty or out of reach, but a powerfully conscious practice you can bring to your everyday moments, to experience deeper levels of calm, wonder, insight and happiness.

(Please note several interruptions and a lunch break were edited out of the post as they were repetitive and didn’t add extra value.)