Meditate With Your Kettle

Mindfulness can, and should, be part of our daily lives.

What do you do while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil? Gaze out the window? Check your emails? Or dig out the biscuits?

Well here’s another suggestion: use the time to focus on your breathing.

Take a breath

In a social-media world where we constantly feel under pressure, taking two minutes out to reconnect with your inner self can make a big difference.

It is not necessary to enter a deep meditative state to reap reward. Breathing consciously allows you to ground yourself in the moment and put the hustle and bustle of daily life into perspective.

If you’re on a coffee break at work, spending two minutes focused on your breathing is an excellent way to refresh your body and mind. By replacing a stress-inducing activity like reading the news with something that lets you escape the outside world, you will benefit far more from your break.

This means that you can start working with a clear head and renewed determination. But more importantly, it will improve your health, energy levels and personal satisfaction.

Better tasting coffee

Having a mindful approach to food and drink will help you enjoy eating and drinking more. Once you’ve controlled your breathing and returned to a peaceful state of mind, you are prepared to get the most out of your cup of tea or coffee.

The key is to drink slowly and consciously. A greater awareness of your tasting experience makes the flavours more real. You benefit more from a task when you give it your whole attention because your senses are actively engaged in carrying it out.

One of the key differences between a goals-based, predominantly Western mind-set and the mindful outlook is the purpose of each act. In the West, we feel like everything we do must be justified by some ultimate goal, whether that is greater work productivity or a personal fitness target.

This devalues each individual moment and puts us under pressure. If your actions are merely a stepping stone to a greater purpose, you can’t extract as much pleasure from completing them.

When you drink a cup of coffee in order to get a caffeine kick, you lose out on the sensations produced by focusing on the tastes.

It is having a greater awareness of the present moment that will allow you to experience vividly and appreciate fully your day-to-day actions.

Reduce the stress

If this all sounds rather idealistic, that’s a sad indictment of our time-pressed society. Being in connection with your own breathing is one of the simplest and most effective ways to increase your self-worth and feel less stressed.

Sadly, most of our workplaces aren’t geared towards promoting mindfulness. Large open-plan offices have become popular choices for bosses who want their employees to feel a constant pressure to keep working.

Similarly, we are motivated by deadlines. These are another constant source of stress: if we aren’t doing something that feels productive, we worry we’re not getting the task done. The result of this is an inability to relax and enjoy small moments of pleasure.

The pressures of our fast-paced lives should make finding the time to focus on breathing even more important. Simply by giving your brain a chance to switch off and reset, you can start to live a more mindful life.

How to do it

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Thiền Buddhist monk who has written over fifty books on mindfulness, extols the virtues of conscious breathing in our daily lives.

His advice is to repeat a simple mantra in time with your breathing:

As I breathe in, I relax my body As I breathe out, I smile.

For those who struggle to keep distracting thoughts out of their mind, this is a great way to stay in the moment.

You can close your eyes or keep them open. If you prefer to have them open, you could fix your gaze on the kettle and notice the wisps of steam emerging from the spout.

The noises the kettle makes as the water heats and boils should also guide your breathing. Listen to the various sounds, but let them wash over you and provoke an emotional response. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking logically about what you are hearing.

Once the kettle has boiled, pour the water slowly with relaxed and deliberate movements. Continue to be aware of the sounds, sights and smells as your tea or coffee brews.

If possible, it is best to enjoy your drink away from your desk so you can maintain your concentration and savour your drink. But if you do have to get back to work, make a special effort to drink every sip consciously. This will keep you grounded and relaxed, as well as improving your taste experience.

Time to breathe

Most of all, don’t stress if other thoughts do creep into your head while you are trying to focus on your breathing. This is normal, especially for Westerners who spend all our time dominated by rational thoughts.

It is important to acknowledge these distractions without fighting against them. Return to the mantras to recover your focus.

I hope these tips help you achieve a greater state of mindfulness in your daily life. Now go and put the kettle on.