Guide: Brushing Your Teeth

Guides are a Pathway in The Map of Everyday Enlightenment which are typically articles about a particular time and place for meditative practices. Guides contain Landmarks that highlight examples of how this could work for you, as well as other explanations of how to make use of certain concepts or techniques. The Landmarks in Guides can be reviewed in the context of progress through the Realms of Everyday Enlightenment, and when used in that way, Guides become another way to decide where to go next.

Guide: Brushing Your Teeth
Guide: Brushing Your Teeth
Landmarks	Notice Your Wandering Mind Have Experimented with Witnessing

The Guide to Brushing Your Teeth showcases one common activity we all do twice a day - brushing your teeth. As such, it is one really great activity to use as a time to work on your practice. And one other special thing about it is that it is typically done in front of a mirror, which opens up some areas to explore. As with all of the practices found in Everyday Enlightenment, you should generalize what you learn, and apply it to other types of meditative practices, and other activities you do frequently. Each of the Landmarks in this guide focus on a different Beacon or Realm, but each of them can be practiced while Brushing Your Teeth.

Use the following Landmarks as ways to integrate meditative practices into your everyday life and to check in on how you are progressing in your own journey.

Landmark: Notice Your Wandering Mind

Landmark: Notice Your Wandering Mind
Beacons	Attention
Realms	Enrollment
Lenses	Presence
Guides	Brushing Your Teeth

The Landmark of Notice Your Wandering Mind asks whether you can notice when your mind tends to wander off in different directions. This Landmark is within the Realm of Enrollment, and is part of the Beacon of Attention, more specifically the Lens of Presence.

Landmark Lookouts:

• Notice Your Wandering Mind: Are you able to notice times when your mind wanders?
  
• A Wandering Mind is Different: Can you feel that a wandering mind is different than a tranquil mind or a focused mind?
  
• It's Possible to Let the Mind Return: When your mind does wander, do you notice the moment when it comes back from that distant thought, and back into The Now?
  

The idea here is to just practice basic Attention and Presence during something you do every day.

• Pick up your toothbrush and squeeze a strip of toothpaste onto it.
• Turn on the tap and wet the brush, your daily dental hygiene routine is now a mindfulness exercise.
• As you start brushing, pay attention to where your thoughts wander off.
• Are you thinking about your meetings? Your grocery list? Or maybe an argument from last night?
• Each time you catch your mind straying, gently guide it back to the sensation of brushing.
• Focus on the taste of the toothpaste, the feel of the bristles against your teeth and gums, the sound of brushing.
• Once you're done brushing, rinse your mouth and your brush.
• Clean up your space, put everything back where it belongs, and stand still for a moment, taking in the quiet.
• Use this small window of time twice a day to practice focusing and reigning in your wandering mind.
  

Landmark: Have Experimented with Witnessing

Landmark: Have Experimented with Witnessing
Beacons	Association
Realms	Enrollment
Lenses	Witnessing
Guides	Brushing Your Teeth

The Landmark of Have Experimented with Witnessing asks whether you are able to experience basic Witnessing during simple tasks. This Landmark is within the Realm of Enrollment, and is part of the Beacon of Association, more specifically the Lens of Witnessing.

Landmark Lookouts:

• Awake to what Witnessing Is: Do you understand what you experienced, and does that understanding make you more awake?
  
• Experienced that at Least Sometimes There is no Controlling Mind to be Aware Of: Did you experience a full awareness that there were no thoughts, impulses, or any kind of directive force present?
  

This is just one example; it can be applied to any trivial activity. Note that you may not be able to do all of these steps at first - don't worry about that at all. Just try to understand the general flow and see which parts start falling into place for you. Also note that this exercise uses a mirror but that isn't a requirement at all - see also for example Emptying the Dishwasher.

• Stand in front of the mirror with your hands at your sides
• Become as mindful as you know how
• Look at yourself in the mirror and allow your attention to The Self to evaporate, and sense that the Mirror Self is going to do something
• Notice that the Mirror Self picks up the toothpaste
• Notice that the micromovements and larger movements for this simple task didn't need any conscious direction at all, it just happened
• The Mirror Self now lifts its other arm and unscrews the cap, placing it on the sink, and then picking up the toothbrush.
• Appreciate that three steps in one larger task all took place as if they were puzzle pieces fitting together seemlessly
• Continue on in this fashion as your teeth are being brushed
• Do not try and tell your Mirror Self which tooth to brush next or how long to linger on each tooth, just allow that to happen
• Do not try and tell your Mirror Self when the task is done, just let it end naturally
• Once you are done, and the toothbrush and toothpaste are back in their places, mentally review the steps listed in The Pattern above and appreciate what just happened