In mindfulness, there is this idea of a feeling tone. The feeling tone refers to that first hit of judging an experience as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. That happens so fast that we think it is automatic, but it is something we can observe as we build the skill of being mindful. And it is worth doing, because the next thing that happens is that we start to cling to or resist or try to ignore what is happening. And that is how we often make ourselves more miserable than we need to be. So tuning into that first hit of pleasant, unpleasant or neutral becomes a way of delinking that chain so there is less reactivity, and then less suffering.
Of course, what judgement can you have of a baby owl other than simply awesome…
Photo by Ethan Grey on Unsplash
