“We miss tasting the middle. We only taste the beginning and the end.” - Andy Puddicombe (Founder of Headspace)

I was listening to a Headspace meditation lesson and Andy shared that whenever we eat, we usually only taste the first few bites of the food and the last bites, when we realize that we’re almost done.

Often, we fail to taste the middle.

What’s disturbing is that this doesn’t just apply to food. Many of the good experiences we have are also approached the same way.

As I look back, I realized that this happens with many of my relationships. I experience a sugar high and a flood of dopamine at my new connections and I only feel their value when it’s time to say goodbye.

I neglected the middle by being consistently caught up in social media and worries that I have in life as well as plans for my future.

When I look at jobs and activities, it’s not too difficult to think of examples where I did the same thing.

Whenever I find myself to be unhappy, it’s often a result of me not paying attention to what’s happening. I’m always thinking about the beginning of a new activity that I’m about to engage in or mourning the loss of my access to a valuable benefit that’s about to end.

I keep zoning out. So I asked myself, “how can I pay more attention?”

Mindfulness is really important. Instead of imagining the future or dwelling on the past, the present is extremely important.

An ancient book tells us that “we shouldn’t worry about tomorrow because today has enough trouble to keep us occupied.”

If you think about it, the reason why we miss out and the reason why we screw up is because we are pretending to time travel.

I am writing this and also find myself thinking about something else just as you are reading this and possibly thinking about something else.

Let’s take a quick break. Take a few deep breaths and ask yourself the following questions.

Where are you right now?

What time is it?

How does your body feel?

How does your mind feel?

What are you grateful for?

Take a few more breaths.

Remember that you are in the middle of something. Pay a little more attention to it. Whatever it is.

Thank you for your attention.


Thank you for reading.

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