The Infamous Raisin

What does a raisin have to do with mindfulness?

The raisin. A seemingly innocent snack suddenly catapulted to fame when it was used to help demystify mindfulness. How you may ask. Let's break it down.

Mindfulness is a simple concept. Paying attention to what is happening right now. In the present moment. The raisin is used as an object to help focus our attention and then use our five senses to really explore the object. The aim is to really see the raisin for what it really is. Normally we would pop it into our mouths until we had nothing left to eat. But have we really experienced that raisin? Do we really know what it tastes like? What it smells like? Let's try out. Grab a raisin. If you don't have one or prefer to try something else like a nut or maybe a grape grab one of those instead. Now, follow along using each of your sense to explore your object. As you are doing this, you may find your mind wandering away, or even start to think "Why am I doing this?" or "This is stupid, I'm wasting my time." Acknowledge that you had these thoughts and bring your mind right back to your object. I will use the raisin in my explanation below, but feel free to use these observations on your food object of choice. 1. Sight - Look at your object like you are seeing it for the very first time. Observe the colour, the shape and any other characteristics that make it unique. 2. Touch - Take the opportunity to investigate the texture of your raisin. Look at the ridged surfaces. Does the raisin feel waxy? 3. Hearing - Holding the raisin up to your ear, give it a squeeze. Was there a sound? 4. Smell - What does a raisin smell like? Hold it up to your nose and take a gently sniff. 5. Taste - Place the raisin in your mouth and observe. Does your mouth suddenly produce saliva? What is the initial taste of the raisin? Did you expect it? It is now time to congratulate yourself. You have now completed an exercise in mindful eating! Now that you have taken the raisin through it s paces, what do you think? Did the raisin surprise you? Comment below and share your experience with the raisin! #mindfulness #raisingactivity #mindful