Be aware of what is going on around you!

Entry 3 scrapbooking

Mindfulness meditation is emerged from Zen Buddhism.

 “The purpose of a daily mindfulness based meditation … is to simply practice witnessing and acknowledging whatever arises and the present moment without judging it. One’s attention is directed to anything real and tangible such as the breath or a thought, feeling or sound without any attempt to change it” Kabat-Zinn in (Gura, 2010, p.266).

Following this quotation, I focused on my activity with all my senses trying to interiorise everything I felt, smelt, heard or saw. I did not attempt to make any changes to what was happening, but just be aware of it and enjoy the here and now moments.

The most present smell was the smell of transparent glue, very strong chemical smell. Also, my cup of tea sitting on the desk beside me filled the room with the smell of infused mint, reminding me of summers in Romania.

After I finished gluing the photos to the scrapbook paper, I touched it, and I noticed the paper had turned wavy and uneven. The first thing that came to my mind was that it wasn’t a successful work. However, keeping in mind the concept of mindfulness, I thought I shouldn’t change it, but keep it as a memory of my first scrapbooking experience performed at home. While I was meditating on this experience, I looked outside my French doors and saw the rabbit jumping around my back yard, which lead me to a deeper connection with my feelings. That is because my pet rabbit is so peaceful and relaxes me a lot.

The loudest sound around me was a mixture of sounds made by an airplane, cars running on the street, birds singing in the trees, children playing in the school yard close to my house. Another sound, softer, was the sound of my breath, calm and peaceful. 

In conclusion, contemplation made my work so much more meaningful and made me feel at ease. It was an interesting and worthwile experience, reminding me not to take for granted small things that other people may not experience.