For the next several weeks, we are doing something a little different. We will be posting The Gist - a series of weekly blog posts also available in audio - which highlights ideas we are exploring through the work of various authors and speakers. We start with the work of John Kabat-Zinn to examine our senses and the ways in which they shape our experience of the world. We then examine the idea of integrating our physical senses with our minds through the work of: Jud Brewer on forming new habits of mind; Dan Siegal on interpersonal neurobiology; and David Steindl-Rast on connecting our world through grateful living.
Dr. John Kabat-Zinn has been a pillar in the mindfulness movement for decades. His book 'Coming to our Senses...Healing Ourselves and the World through Mindfulness' builds on his previous writing. This book is expansive covering topics such as meditation, our ability to pay attention, the benefits of silence, and our relationships. The crux of the book lies in John's exploration of the sensory world.
He begins with the incredible sense of sight that so many of us take for granted. How often do we stop to be thankful that we have eyes that can see? The remarkable range of things to see in the world, the array of colours present all around us. John takes us on a walk through a beloved trail that he frequents. He always makes a deliberate attempt to sit and gaze at the fields beyond the trail. He talks of the rich red fescues, purple flowers in the grass, the way the light hits a farmhouse in the distance. And how each time he walks, the field looks different, there is always something new to notice if only we take the time. And this noticing, this attending to things with our sight nourishes us in ways that we would miss altogether if we rush through life on autopilot.
John also talks of how those without sight become 'whole body seers' using their other senses to develop a mental picture of what is happening around them. He notes that Helen Keller could get a 'scent impression' of a person simply by being in a room with them. From the smells lingering on their clothes she could decipher if someone worked in a kitchen, as a gardener, or in a hospital. But we don't have to lose a particular sense in order to appreciate it. John invites us to re-engage with our miraculous sense of sight by revisiting everyday things with fresh eyes - the faces of the people we love, the flowers in our garden, the animals we pass in our all too familiar neighbourhood. After all, as Marcel Proust noted, "The journey of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having fresh eyes".
What struck me most was how John talks not only of seeing, but of being seen. He and his wife, Myla Kabat-Zinn have worked with many families on mindful parenting. They often ask parents to remember a time as children, when they felt really seen. Maybe it was a special, quiet moment with a loving parent or grandparent, or a teacher who really saw and encouraged their unique way of being. By invoking these memories, parents can better understand their own children and the lasting impact when we feel fully attended to. This means seeing other people as who they are, not as we want them to be. We miss so much when we don't see and value what each person can bring to this world, no matter how small. A new perspective, a talent all their own, a contribution that only they can make to the world. In the words of St. Theresa of Lisieux, If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.'
So this week let's all take some time to pause and really take in everything around us. To engage our sense of sight and feast on colours and shades. To notice the play of light and dark in nature or in our homes and gardens. To look up at the sky and notice its vast expanse. And to look with fresh eyes at the people and animals in our lives. To notice when they feel seen by us and
