Blackberr-ease

I am always torn between two worlds- the Canadian forest and the Irish hills. And just to add, I can‘t deny the privilege of calling these two places my home. They are two breathtakingly beautiful lands that are filled with abundance. So, you can imagine how each leave taking can bring both sorrow and joy. There’s joy in knowing that I am about to return to a place that I have missed and sorrow to leave one behind.

I have just left Canada after a summer of peaceful plodding to return to my home in Ireland. One of the things that softens the sorrow of leaving is that I know that I am returning to the Irish blackberry season. There is nothing like getting the old berry buckets out and spending an afternoon sitting at a quiet hedge, listening to the late day birdsong and picking berries. When done mindfully, it is a meditation that both grounds me and stabilises the spinning mind that can come after a busy summer of to-ing and fro-ing. In fact, it‘s not just after a busy summer. I can recall a time when picking blackberries was the solace I needed to help shed the weariness that comes with a daily routine of being stuck in an office.

Choosing soft activities like picking berries, baking, woodworking, painting, knitting or what one journalist calls Grandma (or Grandpa!) activities is good for our mental health. As Mark Travers explains in Forbes magazine, they help reframe what it means to be productive, boost our cognitive functioning and encourage mental and emotional wellbeing. They also foster presence or the practice of mindfulness.

Whether we are minding our fingers for the thorns of a blackberry bush or gently choosing each stitch, we are slowing down, paying attention (on purpose) to the task at hand (which is always happening in the present moment). This is the definition that secular mindfulness teachers use to describe the process of being mindful. Moreover, what’s great about blackberry picking is that you get to do it in nature, and well, that brings a whole other kettle of mental and physical benefits!

So if you‘ve never learned about mindfulness, or if you have but struggle with sitting on a cushion in meditation, I invite you to go blackberry picking, or choose any soft activity that speaks to you. Engaging in these activities can be a wonderful way of finding your way into presence. They can help us to focus our mind on a support, whether it is a ripe berry or a simple stitch. While at the same time, it can open us up to whatever is happening around us- birdsong, sunshine, the smell of coffee or even the rhythmic sound of cars passing outside your window. The trick is to pay attention, on purpose to the task at hand while remaining open to noticing all that is happening around and within you. This is a legit mindfulness practice and what sitting on a cushion in meditation is preparing us for.

There is no recording this week as it is my hope that your practice will be mindfully engaging in whatever activity it is that you choose. We will be back next Tuesday morning at 10am for the Sanctuary‘s community meditation. Mark it in your calendar! I will post the link at the bottom of next week‘s blog offering. I would love to see you there.

-Jane