Awareness

I was shopping in Bath and Body Works a couple of weeks ago. I was wandering around, picking up some of my favorite things and smelling new lotions. Predictably, a saleswoman came up and asked if she could help me? I told her what I was looking for and she sprang into action.

“Have you tried this one? It’s absolutely divine,” she said.

She sprayed the perfume on a card and handed it to me. I lifted the card to my nose and was instantly transported to Idaho, sometime in the early 1980s.

Penicillin. 🤢

That “divine” perfume smelled EXACTLY like the liquid penicillin I had to take when I was sick.

Nope.

I gave the card back and continued my shopping, unassisted.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that moment. Isn’t it amazing how certain smells can take you back in time? Finesse shampoo does the same thing. In fact, lots of smells are tied to many of my childhood memories. I started wondering if I am as mindful in my life now as I was as a child.

Today, my life is full of distractions, my phone being one of the best. I can (and often do) distract myself so I don’t actually have to be present. I can put in my airpods and become oblivious to the sounds, smells, and even sights around me. I can be here without literally being here. But is that evidence of our technological progress or a problem?

Personally, I think it is problematic.

Let me give an example from my own life. Last weekend, I was working on a cross stitch while watching a movie with my husband. That seems harmless, right? I’m pretty sure I would have called it multi-tasking. And yet…the reality of that situation was more bleak. Brian sat on the couch. I sat next to him, but I couldn’t see the tiny holes, so I left the couch and sat on the floor next to the light I had turned on. I kind of watched the movie, and I kind of worked on the cross stitch, and Brian and I sat like two strangers in a house.

Lame.

We have become so skilled at distraction. And distraction kills connection, both with ourselves and with other people.

Who wants that?

I think awareness is the key. First of all, practice awareness with yourself. How do you feel? Why? What you are thinking? What do you really want? Pay attention to where you are and what you are doing. Is this what you want to be doing? Then, start practicing awareness with others. Be present with people, wherever you are. Look at them; listen to them. If you go somewhere, really show up. Taste the food, smell the smells, laugh, cry, cringe, and giggle.

Do it all.