Use a raisin to slow down your thoughts in this mental health trick

DPA
·2 min read
Negative feelings are sometimes justified and many of us would do well to accept them rather than push them away. But when things get out of control, something as simple as a raisin can help ground us. Zacharie Scheurer/dpa
Negative feelings are sometimes justified and many of us would do well to accept them rather than push them away. But when things get out of control, something as simple as a raisin can help ground us. Zacharie Scheurer/dpa

Take a raisin in your hand and look at it as if you've never seen one before. Smell the raisin, observe what feelings and thoughts it evokes inside you. Then describe what it looks like.

We're not done yet.

This mental health exercise - involving nothing more than your mind and a simple raisin - has plenty more ways it can help us to slow down our thoughts and ground us in the here and now.

The mindfulness movement has been booming for years now, not least because of the amount of information bombarding us on screens and the increasing need to be available at all times.

In times of stress and spiralling negative thoughts, paying more attention to the present moment – to your own thoughts and feelings, and to the world around you – can improve your mental wellbeing, say experts from Britain's National Health Service, among other health bodies.

Now back to our raisin, which mental health experts at Germany's University of Bamberg say is a great place to start out for anyone new to the concept of slowing down of their thoughts.

With the raisin still in your hand, close your eyes and concentrate on what it feels like.

Now, finally, place it on your tongue, but don't chew yet. How does it feel? Can you taste something? Now, chew it once - just once - and feel what changes.

Then chew the raisin at least 10 to 20 times. Take a break and ask yourself, what can you taste? Where in your mouth do you sense the taste? Then swallow the raisin and pay attention to how it moves down your oesophagus.

Your mindfulness exercise has ended, and hopefully all those external stresses from your smartphone, work and the society should feel a little less intense. Next up: anything else you can eat or drink!