Episode 139

Take a Shower

In some ways, the shower is a cultural symbol, representing a period of the day that we have to ourselves, with few other responsibilities.

Some people know the shower as the “argument simulator”. We get into the shower and start imagining all of those arguments we could have one, all those zingers we’d lay down against our colleagues or family members to leave them so speechless that they had to admit we were right.

Or we know it as the time for “shower thoughts”, the times when our minds are most creative, looking at the world from a different perspective.

It is also a time when we can simply enjoy the moment. A hot shower or even a cold shower is a chance to enjoy bodily awareness, feeling the sensations of various parts of our bodies which we don’t always use, allowing the blood to flow into them and come alive.

There we feel presence, feeling every drop on our bodies. One moment of presence in a day makes all the difference.

Transcript

Welcome beautiful thinkers.

I’d like to talk to you about taking a shower. I stepped into the shower this morning. I normally take cold showers but sometimes on the weekend I put the water heater on and take a nice warm hot shower.

And it’s the beads of water splash down on my neck that starts to feel a bit tingly like parts of my being are coming alive again. And you can be really present.

When you are showering you can be aware of every bead hitting your body, you can enjoy the heat or cold in the moment.

If you take a cold shower of course it can be quite uncomfortable but when you get used to it, it’s almost like you crave the cold water coming down onto you and you start to feel the blood circulating more, coming to the surface and revitalizing your skin.

Some people say that when you take a colder shower you get younger skin because of that extra circulation. Apparently also transforms the white fat into brown fat and makes it easier to burn.

And what I’m trying to get at, when you step into the shower, of course its an enjoyable experience.

But what some of us do as I mentioned before is we get into the shower argument generator, the shower booth and think about whats happening in our day.

What if we can just enjoy that experience and just feel what we are feeling in that moment?

It is one of life’s little pleasures and most of us have had the opportunity to do it every single day and we can take that moment to be present. To notice these sensations that are going on in our body. Feel whats going on around us and of course we can take that with us.

WE can enjoy the sensations and take a moment to be present in the shower. In our day remember that, what else is going on in my body? Like I’m here sitting in a chair now, the bones of my buttox against the chair, my feet against the floor. Every part of our experience we can have this awareness which makes this more fascinating.

We’re breathing life into every moment. Lately I’ve been practicing yoga and that’s what my instructor says “Breath, breathe slowly. Be aware of the tension and the stretching and trying to send that breath deep into the muscles and tendons for more support and exercise from that breath.

You know I think sometimes…when I was into another apartment and the water would be solar heated during the day. I could turn on the heater if I wanted to but if I take a shower around noon even the cold water will be hot. At certain parts of the day I could turn on one of the taps and the water would come out warm.

I’d turn off that tap and turn on the other to see what happens. Will it be colder or warmer than the other? Sometime the water gets hot in the pipes, sometimes it doesn’t. More or less whatever will come out if it was colder or hotter I’d be pleased like its something different, how interesting.

Of course if its scalding I might have a problem but other than that it’s ok. I wonder if we can have that attitude when things happen in our life. Like of course something unexpected will happen, something unusual.

If it doesn’t comply with our expectations we might think of it as bad but that’s not necessarily the case, it’s just different. So it’s some things I think about, different kinds of shower thoughts.

Take a moment to be present. If you have one moment of presence in the day that makes all the difference so go ahead and take a shower, enjoy a shower.

Thank you for doing that, being present in whatever form. Thank you for exploring the sensations of your body even in this moment observing where your feet are, where is your lower back, what is happening in your body…thank you for having a great day.

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