Practising Mindfulness Latest Posts

  • Mindfully Unsuffering

    Image by KELLEPICS
    It is said by some that suffering is created when we’re in a state of wanting or desiring. Is this true?

    It’s certainly the job of all of us to question what we and others believe. We can’t just accept what we’re told as true. We do have a tendency to do this a children. Our critical faculty isn’t sufficiently developed for us to successfully question teachers and parents. However, once we’re grown, it becomes our responsibility to question what we’ve been taught. We rid ourselves of the suffering experienced by others in this way. And this brings me to the belief that desires and wants equal suffering.

    It stands to reason that wanting what we can’t have creates tension but is this tension a form of suffering?

    Think of the word intention. What is your in-tention? Is it your intention to do good in the world? Is it your intention to get what you want? We never get what we want if there’s no intention. Let’s say we eradicated all wants. Would that solve the problems of humanity? How would things have turned out if Edward Jenner hadn’t wanted to cure smallpox? How would things have turned out if he had no intentions? Surely those of us who want to help ease the suffering of mankind are driven by desire and intention.

    Mindfully unsuffering involves the process of questioning the antiquated beliefs of others

    As time moves forward so must we. It is unacceptable to simply continue swallowing the beliefs and philosophies that were established hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. Suffering is perpetuated when we’re mindless of the negative influence of antiquated beliefs. Suffering is when we stay chained to the growing pains of the past. We must move forward and recognise our responsibility to each other. We must drop our useless beliefs from the past.

  • The Joy of Attention

    Image by No-longer-here

    Most of us have seen or heard the parable about the Two Wolves (if not here it is). It’s a very simple way of demonstrating how we create or ease conflict. In the same vein, I feel it’s useful to consider anything we choose to give our attention to, as being the thing that becomes the most prominent.

    Is it obvious that we are our thoughts?

    We might think it obvious that if we’re preoccupied with thoughts of anger, revenge, guilt, or any negative, that it eventually reflects in the body and how we behave. And yet is it that obvious? Surely if people really were aware of how the bodymind is affected by thoughts and behaviour, they’d modify this, by taking better care of their minds.

    It does, once again, come down to awareness

    We can only imagine how the world would be if our leaders paid more attention to their own thoughts and behaviour. My own recent thoughts relating to death and loss have brought this issue home to me. I’ve recently been telling myself that with each peaceful person we lose, the world feels like a darker place. And indeed it will be if we give these kind of thoughts attention.

    The antidote is the awareness of our thoughts

    Everyday the world experiences gains and losses. Everyday something is destroyed and something is created. There is a natural balance within the universe, it’s something I believe. And so we can choose to tip this balance – through dark depressive thoughts – or we can tip it the other way, it is entirely up to us.

    The joy of attention is all about realising how our lives are dictated by our thoughts

    Those who lust for power and influence through nefarious means will always end their days in a sticky mess. It’s the old proverb: Live by the sword die by the sword. Much better to pay attention to the beauty, love, peace and kindness there is in the world. And no matter how prevalent those who lust for what they can’t have might seem, simply place your attention on what you already have, for however long, that might be.

  • Come Out of the Darkness

    Image by anncapictures

    Close your eyes and imagine yourself walking along a passageway within a cave. There’s very little light and the walls are cold, dark granite. There’s sand beneath your bear feet but it feels cold, damp and difficult to walk through. There is a light ahead; a small pinprick of light that seems to be getting larger as you walk towards it. Closer and closer to the light now, eventually stepping out of the cave onto a warm sun-kissed beach. There are waves from an aquamarine sea gently lapping against the shoreline and soft white clouds drifting lazily across a beautiful blue sky. And the sand beneath your feet is fine, dry and warm. And you feel a sense of safe, tranquillity, having stepped out of the darkness now.

    Now that you’re in the light take some time today to consider the power of belief

    Because I reread this post it had the effect of defusing anxiety and started me thinking about oneness. It made me realise that when we believe in our oneness, and understand the importance of togetherness, we have nothing to strive for other than confirmation of this. It can be the case that everything we do at home or work is an expression of this belief. And when we wholeheartedly believe in something there is no effort involved. Allow me to explain.

    Much of our thoughts and activities are based on affirming our status/identity and competitive nature. It’s certainly not for me to question the validity of any of these things, however, when we believe in oneness, we’re able see beyond the superficial. When our drivings are based on the beautiful belief that we are simply one, interdependent species, our fears subside. When we’re no longer striving to be seen as different, better or more, we can get on with the business of living in the present. We may always end up superficially different but when we stop striving for this, (with our minds anywhere other than present) and just be who we naturally are, we remove much of the anxiety modern life brings.

    Comparing ourselves to others can be considered a primordial instinct but it doesn’t mean we can’t move away from this

    Gaining freedom from instinctive drivings is an extraordinary thing. How would life be for us, if rather than simply transposing our instinctive drivings – from fighting in the jungle, to things such as money and identity – we actually sought to conquer them. Being aware is part of the solution. Raising awareness to our true selves – beings that seek togetherness – helps us find the oneness that resides within us all.

  • Human Excellence

    Image by chenspec

    This week has seen the successful unfurling of the James Webb space Telescope, an extraordinary device that will enable us to look back, almost, to the beginning of time. 

    It is hard to imagine what has needed to come together for this project to have got so far. We have yet to see any images from the telescope but, judging from current progress, it seems very likely that we’ll be blown away by the results.

    When we take the time to consider this monumental achievement with all it’s planning, complexity and collaboration, we can know, without a doubt, that anything we might want to achieve is possible. It clearly shows us that anything we put our minds to, provided we have sufficient resources and the necessary commitment, we can succeed. 

    It is important, no matter the cost or however confused we might initially be about the logic of such endeavors, that we acknowledge the challenges this team will have faced and overcome. It is important to apply this to ourselves and our own endeavors. We can be inspired by their achievement.

    Looking back into the distant past is one thing, and yet, if we choose to, we can cast our minds into an imagined distant future 

    A future where we have cracked so many of the mysteries that life presents us with. If we look hard enough we can see a future where we have unfurled so much more of the limiting aspects of human nature. In particular the aspects of human nature that hold us back. 

    Imagine a future where the sensitivities of the human mind are far better respected

    It’s only since developing mindfulness have I become aware of how our thoughts are truly what we are. I can only imagine how things will improve for us humans if we were to take better care of our minds. For this to happen we must begin at the beginning. The place where all of our actions begin: thought. 

    It is certain that each individual team member, responsible for the development and deployment of our new space telescope, will have been dedicated and mindful of their respective roles. They will have been focused and determined to do their utmost to ensure the project’s future success. 

    Whatever it is you would like to achieve, it starts with your mind. Plan to improve your awareness, learn mindfulness now.

  • Escaping the Influence of Illness

    I’ve bolted to my little hideaway 

    Sometimes solitude is the only answer. When I feel weighed down by the behaviour of others, I realise there’s no point in becoming angry, in an attempt to change them. Inconsiderate and manipulative behaviour, brought on by what is seen as the power of illness, is minimised when alone. Total solitude would mean I simply can’t be influenced by illness.

    It seems we all have something wrong

    We all have our problems don’t we? And yet, how would life be if we felt utterly content, well, and satiated? Would we wonder at this strange feeling of contentment and seek out a problem to spoil it all? I suppose we can feel content only for this to be spoiled by someone else, can we not?.

    Time away to enjoy solitude and escape the influence of illness

    Interestingly enough, if I searched for them, I could claim to have lots of problems, but what would be the point if in solitude? To revel in self-pity for no real reason? You see, when alone, there is no value to illness, it has no power and influence over others. I’m unable to control their movements and consume their time through illness when alone. My illness has no power, no purpose. I’m tired of the influence of illness.

    In addition to helping people understand their illness, my intention is to work with the well, teaching them how to build on this, through mindfulness.

    We must stop giving illness power – be well – learning how to spend time in total solitude, will help us all, gain the necessary understanding.

  • Transform Powerless into Powerful

    At times we can all feel a sense of powerlessness, so how do we change powerless, into powerful?

    As should be the case I’m writing this today with the intention of empowering myself. I need to know how to change the occasions when I feel powerless into a far more powerful state of mind. At the very least, I want to feel that I’m in control, of myself.

    Ultimately, this feeling of power that I desire, must be drawn from somewhere deep within my mind

    I must apply the method I use with my clients. I must practice what I preach. And so the trick, is to bring my awareness into a time and place where I felt particularly powerful and in charge of myself.

    My mind is instantly taken back to rugby tackling the school bully. I clearly remember making up my mind: once he has possession of the ball, I’ll charge him. And that’s exactly what I did. Now I must remember and reassociate myself with the feeling that powered this decision.

    Once I have this feeling it’s then a case of applying it to whatever I feel powerless to change. I will use self-hypnosis and replace the feeling of powerlessness to one of power

    All well and good and of course very effective, however, there is something that I must do in order for this to last. I must have sufficient reason and motivation to achieve this thing. I must find this missing ingredient in order to conquer. Why, I now ask myself, was it important for me as a child to rugby tackle the school bully? Where did the courage come from?

    In answer to why it was important, I think having being picked on by the bully in the past, it was important to have some kind of recompense for my loss of face. I was once severely humiliated in front of my peers by this guy and so needed to raise myself back up again. I needed to right the wrong, to once again, feel a little more at peace with myself.

    What about where the courage came from? Well, as you may have already guessed, the overriding emotion was anger. It was also the knowledge, that whilst on the rugby pitch, I was involved in a game. A game that was being supervised by a teacher, and therefore, afforded me licence to tackle the bully. It was within the rules of the game. I was licenced to kill. Oh yes.

    As I remember it, I didn’t actually bring him down (he was massive), but that isn’t the point. The point was in having a go

    Has any of this retrospection helped me find that missing ingredient? Well, one thing it’s helped me with, is understanding what I must do to transform powerlessness. I’ve now become aware that the decision to make the change has always been within my grasp. It’s a choice. I can either continue to feel powerless within the game, or I can better understand the rules. The rule, that I must clearly understand, is that it’s entirely up to me.

    Powerlessness is a state of mind we can either choose to overwhelm us or fight against

    Inaction, in the face of negative feelings, will of course mean they eventually overwhelm us. Simply staying frozen to the spot, when we should be running toward our fear, means we remain powerless. We must find the motivation. We must find our competitive spirit. We must find the desire to conquer the conflict.

    We must all remember that there may well be some reward for our powerlessness. Our seeming inability to move might be awarding us the illusion of power over our situation. As I consider what the consequences for standing still on the rugby pitch that day would have been, I realise the game would have gone on without me. We must make the decision to get involved and take personal responsibility for ourselves. We must play the game. Once we do, our power builds and builds into a recourse. Something we can tap into whenever we need.

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  • When We Finally Meet Our Alien-Selves

    Image by Comfreak
    How are we to recognise what we’ve never experienced? How are we to love the stranger we do not know

    Are we all searching or waiting for something? Some inspiration, reward or experience? And during this search is it possible to experience a feeling, or state of mind, that is so unfamiliar to us, that we pass it off as alien and so reject it? We might mistake calm, for example, as sleepiness and then drink copious amounts of coffee to wake us up. We might mistake contentedness as lackluster and world weariness. We might mistake contentedness as having given up.

    Most of us are constantly seeking to change how we feel

    It’s fascinating when we think of it. What an earth is going on that we should feel the need to be in a different state to the one we naturally find ourselves? How is it we can’t simply be as we find? And it runs into so many aspects of our lives doesn’t it?

    My mind instantly jumps into thinking about young girls and how they feel the need to change or enhance their physical appearance. Obviously, on some level, they believe their natural-selves to be lacking, or they feel the need to compete and establish stronger identities than their peers. To be larger than life. To be more than what they appear to be. To deceive the observer.

    Just as an ignorant child wants to put his finger in the flame, our fascination with our emotional selves, drives unnecessary provocation

    It’s certain that if more time were spent explaining emotions, their purpose, and how to manage them, they’d be less need to put fingers to flame. Just as the moth is drawn to the flame, we also, lose our way through ignorance and confusion.

    When we experience the unfamiliar, we must pause and immerse ourselves, instead of instantly rejecting it and seeking to change

    When the young girl, who lacks self-awareness, looks in the mirror, she imagines herself with bigger lips and different eyebrows. When those who are unfamiliar with calm and contentment, feel this alien emotion, they instantly imagine themselves stimulated doing or being somewhere else. Instead, when we finally meet our alien-selves it’s useful to pause and give them a chance to explain. When we see them in the mirror, pause, and see the beauty, that’s already there.

  • Find the Peace Within – Retrospection and Introspection

    Retrospection
    It might seem very simplistic, and perhaps a little clichéd to say: we create a peaceful world once we find peace within ourselves. Even so, what if this were true?

    What exactly do we have to lose through seeking this peace from within? If our world becomes peaceful as a result, we’ll all be grateful for the effort and if nothing happens, there’s nothing’s lost.

    If we were to follow some eastern teachings about finding peace within, we’d be told that using the word effort, is wrong. We’d be led into a world of symbolism, metaphor and double speak, sufficient to confuse the hell out of us, and into throwing the book away. We’d sink back into our funk, confusion and depression, before we could even say the word Taoism. So let’s establish some facts to begin with. If you want to find peace, wellbeing and happiness, you will need to put some effort in.

    So when we talk of effort, we’re referring to the effort involved, with being retrospective and introspective. The effort it takes to examine the root to our discomfort and unease

    My background is Analytical Hypnotherapy. As a result, I fully understand, how it’s the examination of early experiences (retrospection), and the release of charged emotions from the memories created (introspection), that enable us to eliminate any negative influence they may still hold over us.

    There’s no denying it’s only the courageous who’re prepared to undergo this kind of analysis. Over the years spent as an analyst, I’ve met, and will continue to meet, many courageous souls. These people have reached a point in their lives, where time in the chair has become a necessity. I’m by no means suggesting we all do that, what I am suggesting though, is we should all take a leaf out of their book. Retrospection followed by introspection are the way and means to break free from negative influences of the past.

    As example let’s look again at depression. We read about the early demise of celebrities who’ve spent a lifetime struggling with depression. It’s my view, and that of my colleagues, that this kind of depression is borne from a fruitless search. As you will have experienced this yourself, think back to searching for a lost item; perhaps it’s keys, purse or wallet. When we’re unable to find a desperately needed item, we become frustrated, and eventually downhearted.

    Now imagine when this search is for something metaphysical. Imagine when this search is for love. Potentially, it could be a love we’ve never experienced, but longed for all our lives. Through whatever means we just can’t find it. There’s no satisfaction. We’ve tried everything: dozens of relationships, sex, drugs, consumerism. . . yep you’ve guessed it, all the things we’re told to believe make us happy, complete and well.

    When the search is for a love we’ve never know, all we find, is frustration leading to depression. Until the next time that is. The pattern and process just begins again. And we wonder why depression comes and goes

    The solution is to cease the external search. We must stop looking to find some kind of satisfaction through external means. The answer really does lie within. What if the presenters, actors, actresses or pop stars, stopped seeking love, through the adoration fame brings? Would this mean we’d have less artistic excellence? I doubt it. Potentially our artistic excellence would be recognised for having a very different nature. Not through the work of tortured souls, but from peaceful souls who’ve found what the answer is. A true acceptance of a self created through retrospection followed, by that all important, introspection.

    More about the Hypnotherapy Services I offer here

  • Vaccines for the Body Awareness for the Mind

    Image by mollyroselee
    I wonder about the effectiveness of meditation as much as I wonder about the effectiveness of vaccines

    When I first sat down to write this piece I began to think about how effective meditation would have been for me some years ago. Whilst in the middle of being terrified and lost would meditation have been of any value to me? Would it have even been possible?

    In answer to those questions, I think without it being explained to me, in clear terms, what the effects and consequences of improved awareness are, my experience of meditation would have been very brief. However, if, by first understanding exactly why my life was such a disaster (to be made aware of all the consequences to loneliness and a better exploration of my delusional beliefs) meditation might have saved me a lot of time and suffering.

    When we’re grasping for the next thing – be this a drink or some other distraction – to gain control, we need to see the underlying cause

    It was last night that I found myself thinking about isolation. How, as a child, if my behavior was disruptive, I would be punished through being sent into isolation in my bedroom. I hated this, I remember feeling very troubled when excluded from the rest of the family. I would creep to the top of the stairs, which were open-plan, so I could see what was going on, only to be spotted by one of my sisters and then told to get back to my room.

    I know now, that the reason being in my bedroom alone was so difficult, was because it compounded my sense of loneliness. When in company my loneliness was far less apparent. The effect and consequences to this, in adulthood, was to spend time drunk (to feel comfortable around people) in pubs to make my loneliness less apparent. A further consequence was my need for constant stimulation and the avoidance of quiet time alone.

    What I’ve since needed, in order to stop grasping for something to ease the pain of loneliness, is an understanding of what lies at its root. If we neither know or like ourselves, loneliness is the result. We will always seek ways to ease this pain.

    With this knowledge, meditation, that leads to improved everyday mindfulness, helps me defend my mind against the many predators and players in life, and also remain vigilant to the importance of self-awareness

    The long and the short of it is, improved awareness, has great value provided we understand the root to our dysfunctionality. If you are currently experiencing a high degree of instability, working through this, with a mental health professional, is recommended. And a must before Meditation to Mindfulness Workshop attendance.

    Philip Whittingham is currently only able to offer Analytical Hypnotherapy Services through home visits in the South West of England.

  • A Celebration of Consciousness

    Image by Artturi Mäntysaari 
    A dumbing down of consciousness is to be locked into routine and the habit of fantasising about the future. A celebration of consciousness is to be learning, growing, changing and developing

    It’s estimated that consciousness developed about 5 million years ago. Imagine how it must of been for the babies of great apes, with a more fully developed cortex, to begin experiencing self-awareness. And consider how, some 5 million years later, we’ve come to utilise and better understand our consciousness.

    If we’re to continue celebrating consciousness, we must recognise the importance of growth, change and development

    If we search for it every positive has its opposite. And of course consciousness brings along with it the downsides of sentience. Along with the the joys of life we’re also aware of the sufferings. Physical and emotional pain is something we seek to avoid, and many of the ways we do this, has the unfortunate side effect of blunting our consciousness.

    We must be guarded against the habit of avoidance because as we do this, the dumbing down of our consciousness, means we’re less aware of the opposites of what we’re choosing to avoid

    Keeping the mind present through the technique of mindfulness does mean we become increasingly aware of the sharper edges to life, however, these things become less sharp through our increased awareness of the wonders in life. It’s a nonsense to dumb down everything – either through drugs, fantasy or routine – in an attempt to avoid the inevitable pains of life. When fully experiencing the phenomenon of consciousness we fully experience all that life brings. Mindfully celebrate your consciousness. Learn to meditate.

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