• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

O'Grady Psychology Associates

Psychotherapy, Marriage Counseling, Neuropsychological Assessment

  • Home
  • Services
    • Therapy for Adults
    • Therapy for Children and Teens
    • Couples Counseling
      • The Gottman Relationship Checkup
    • Neuropsychological Assessment
    • Mindfulness-based Interventions
    • Special Assessments
    • Help Your Child Sleep Alone
    • For Professionals
      • For Physicians and Health Professionals
      • For Attorneys & Insurance Professionals
  • About Us
    • David O’Grady, Ph.D., ABPP
    • Susan J. O’Grady, Ph.D.
      • Policies – Dr. Susan O’Grady
  • Resources
    • Helpful Forms
    • FAQs
    • Articles and Links
  • Susan’s Blog
    • Relationships
    • Mindfulness and Meditation
    • Wellbeing and Growth
    • Psychotherapy
    • Depression and Anxiety
  • Contact Us

August 31, 2013 By Susan O'Grady 1 Comment

A Lesson In Mindfulness: Blackberry Picking

Being mindful when doing daily tasks is a lesson in informal meditation practice.

The Great Irish Poet Seamus Heaney died yesterday. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. In this youtube, he reads his poem, Blackberry Picking. This poem has always been a favorite of our family. As in all poetry, it has many layers of meaning. When our daughters were growing up, we spent several dinner conversations discussing the poem and what it meant to each of us.

Mindfulness is not hoarding experience but finding pleasure in the moment.

Being in the moment means being aware of the colors and smells, the taste, and the pain of scratched hands. There is an awareness that this moment will not last. It cannot last. No matter how much we want it to last, it will not. Our minds will inevitably move onto the next thought, and the next experience. Picking blackberries requires patience as ripe berries are often hidden in the brambles and you have to reach deep into the thicket to gently pull the tender berry from its lodging. It takes many berries to fill a pot. With that much work, the urge is to hurry through the task so we can either stuff ourselves or start the jam making. Whether it’s to gobble the berries so quickly, without tasting them–or to finish bottling jam so we can cross it off our list for the day–the sense experience of berry picking is lost. Eating freshly picked berries is one of life’s delights. Awareness of the briefness of those moments brings appreciation and attention to the simplest task. Trying to hoard the berries, just like hoarding experience will bring disappointment. In mindfulness practice, we learn to accept the moment knowing that it will fade into the next moment. If you keep the berries in the byre, they will rot and turn sour. Being mindful when doing daily tasks is a lesson in informal meditation practice.

The poem Blackberry Picking, shows how hoarding experiences for later, spoils the moment.

 

Late August, given heavy rain and sun
for a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
like thickened wine: summer’s blood was in it
leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots
where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
we trekked and picked until the cans were full
until the tinkling bottom had been covered
with green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
with thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard’s.
We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
a rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair
that all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not.

–Seamus Heaney 1939-2013

 

 

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Susan O'Grady
Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan J. O’Grady has practiced psychotherapy,
couples counseling, and Mindfulness-based therapies in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years.
Susan O'Grady
Latest posts by Susan O'Grady (see all)
  • Teletherapy–One Year Later - April 26, 2021
  • Passion and Sex in Long-Term Relationships - January 1, 2021
  • (home video area 2 – mindfulness) - December 1, 2020

Filed Under: Depression & Anxiety, Dr. Susan O'Grady's Blog, Mindfulness & Meditation, Susan's Musings, Uncategorized, Well-being & Growth

About Susan O'Grady

Dr. Susan J. O’Grady has practiced psychotherapy,
couples counseling, and Mindfulness-based therapies in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years.

 

In our blog posts, we draw from our clients’ stories in order to illustrate some of the common themes that come up in couples counseling and psychotherapy. The examples given here are composites, and we have invented all the names and identifying information. Any resulting resemblance to people is entirely coincidental and unintentional. We are licensed clinical psychologists practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our posts do not reflect professional advice. Interaction with us via the blog does not constitute a professional therapeutic relationship. for professional and individualized advice, you should seek the services of a counselor who can work with you in psychotherapy. We do not assume liability for damage or injury resulting from your decision to interact with our website.​

Trackbacks

  1. THE BLACKBERRY; THE BEST FRUIT OF THE EARTH - The IN SEASON Lifestyle says:
    October 25, 2021 at 9:05 am

    […] If you love poetry with your food; you might enjoy taking in this link:  https://ogradywellbeing.com/lesson-mindfulness-blackberry-picking/. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Dr. Susan J. O’Grady is a Certified Gottman Couples Therapist

Learn more about marriage counseling and couples therapy »
Learn more about the Gottman Relationship Checkup »

Connect with Dr. Susan on Social Media

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Dr. David O’Grady is a Board-Certified Neuropsychologist

Learn more about medical-legal examinations Learn more about neuropsychological testing Learn more about services for professionals

Join Our Email List

We will NEVER share your personal information with anyone, period.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Susan O'Grady
Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan J. O’Grady has practiced psychotherapy,
couples counseling, and Mindfulness-based therapies in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years.
Susan O'Grady
Latest posts by Susan O'Grady (see all)
  • Teletherapy–One Year Later - April 26, 2021
  • Passion and Sex in Long-Term Relationships - January 1, 2021
  • (home video area 2 – mindfulness) - December 1, 2020

Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policies Have Been Updated

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Susan O'Grady
Susan O'Grady
Dr. Susan J. O’Grady has practiced psychotherapy,
couples counseling, and Mindfulness-based therapies in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years.
Susan O'Grady
Latest posts by Susan O'Grady (see all)
  • Teletherapy–One Year Later - April 26, 2021
  • Passion and Sex in Long-Term Relationships - January 1, 2021
  • (home video area 2 – mindfulness) - December 1, 2020

Copyright © 2023 · Dr. David D. O'Grady and Dr. Susan J. O'Grady