Practising Mindfulness

Category: Meditation & Mindfulness

  • Slow Up or You’ll Miss the Show (Show Up for Life!)

    I noticed how the pace of my walking sped up when my mind strayed into thinking about my destination

    It follows through everything; if your mind isn’t in the moment – thinking about what’s next and where you’re planning to be – you will miss more than you realise.

    During my walk this morning it was only during the moments when I was present that I noticed all the colours in the trees

    I noticed how calm the river was. I noticed the colour of the water and how brown it was due to the storm in the night. I noticed the nature of the morning light and how many leaves had now fallen to the ground. In particular I noticed flocks of birds as they woke from their morning roosts.

    It was when I remembered, to bring my awareness back to my steps and my breath, that I noticed how my walking had quickened during the time my mind had strayed into thinking about what lay ahead

    My aimlessness had ceased and my mind had filled with intention. During this time, I wasn’t walking, I wasn’t breathing, I’d become blind! In other words, because my awareness wasn’t in the present, I’d begun to miss the show.

    Such a beautiful display that mother nature had put on just for me. How could I be so disrespectful to her by not paying attention?

    Is it the case, that when I’m thinking about the destination, I’m speeding through the rest of my life? Have I wasted most of my life in this way? It upsets me to think that I probably have. Let’s keep remembering and show up for the show.

  • Quietly Observing War of the Forgetful

    It’s interesting how when I have cool-control over my mind, calmly observing the behaviour of the people around me, without judgement and emotion, I’m able to distance myself from its harm

    My mind is calm and quiet. I see the disrespectful son, insulting his father with no clear idea of how protected and shielded he is from the world through nepotism. If his father were to retire unexpectedly or become incapacitated in some way, the son would have a very rude awakening. He’s unaware of the true nature needed, and of what qualities it takes, to run a successful company.

    You see, I work for a company where the son, works for the father. A common thing and sometimes the dynamic can be difficult. If we were able to take each of them to one side it would be fairly easy to teach them how to better get along, before some calamity strikes. I feel it’s inevitable that things will reach a climax, and when they do, I’ll potentially be out of a job. At least for a while. So be it. Que sera, sera . . .

    Both father and son are players. In a way it doesn’t really matter. It’s only a small war of words and emotions. Something humans seem to thrive on, unless you’re a practitioner of meditation, and mindfulness that is. Then you thrive on something very different

    As someone engaged with the study of mind you’re able to defend yourself against any unnecessary, painful, war of words and emotions

    I’m aware of how father, son and colleagues, are attempting to play me. I often imagine myself as a spiting cobra, raised up, silently assessing the threat, ready to strike. I could, if I chose, spit the venom of well chosen words. Instead, knowing I have a dangerous bite, I silently observe the game-play and remind myself of how this war is the war of the forgetful. I choose not to engage with it, the war rages on without me. A practitioner of mindfulness has no need for such things. The practitioner of mindfulness has love on their side.

  • Know Meditation Know Mindfulness

    This week, I slipped. That’s right, I slipped into an old pattern of feeling negative, stressed, and eating junk. And the only reason for it was forgetting the importance of Meditation

    Monday and Tuesday felt like great days. I felt calm and contented. I ate exactly the amount of food that was right for my body and activity. The energy in energy out balance was in tune. I felt great. The rest of the week gradually went to shit and the reason? I forgot to Meditate on each of the subsequent mornings.

    My usual routine is to do some stretches (yes, I’ve succumbed and learnt some yoga), and then I sit for around twenty minutes to meditate and calm my mind. When I do this, the day is always improved, my mood is better, and of course, it’s conducted Mindfully.

    When my day is conducted mindfully – that is to say I’m predominantly in the present moment and aware – it always runs smoother. The quality of my work is on form, and the customers I meet feel better for the experience

    I’ve come to realise that as I reflect on the week, it was the days I didn’t meditate that were markedly different. I felt harassed by my boss and my customers’ demands. Their demands hadn’t changed it was my mood and attitude that had. In an attempt to change my mood, I craved and ate sugar. And after eating pastry and chocolate, I actually ended up feeling worse! Guilt stepped in!

    Each day, my stress and problems grew worse. It was as if my forgetfulness (opposite of Mindfulness) was some kind of sick experiment on myself to see how shit I could make my week. To make matters worse, I didn’t go for my daily walk. What the hell!?

    The positive from this is how I’m reminded of the importance of sticking to my routine. For me, routine is very important

    Every negative has its opposite. I’m now renewed in my endeavour to be an enthusiastic exponent of Meditation that leads to Improved Mindfulness. I’m reminded of how important it is to Meditate every day. If we want to strengthen our minds and improve the quality of our lives, we must practise. We must practise Mindfulness to stay on the path. It is easy to forget its power.

    Remember, the mind is predisposed to lead you along the path of least resistance. Old established patterns that conserve energy are easily fallen into.

    The mind easily falls into old patterns of thinking and behaviour. And like cart wheels that are stuck in a rut, we must, from time to time, use that little extra effort to pull the mind free.

    We have to focus and concentrate. This strengthens the mind. And just as a weightlifter might occasionally feel tired and disinclined to work out, he must persist. The results speak for themselves.

  • Mindful of Mind

    Be mindful of your mind and become aware of how you create the reality you’re living

    Your reality is determined by your thoughts and drivings. The filters to life are your beliefs. If, for example, I choose to put a backpack on and simply walk the earth, how would my life be? Life would initially become very frightening and insecure for me. I would experience hardship and hunger. We all have the capacity to survive extreme hardship. As such, in time, my life would open up into something extraordinary.

    No telly, no media, no influence other than the world of nature I see around me. Without the influences of society how would things change? Without a ‘normal’ life, doing everything I believed I needed to do in order to fit in, there would be a massive shift. If I stuck with it for long enough my fear would fade. I would be as free as a tramp. My beliefs, no longer fed by ‘normality’, would change. I would need to be cautious. I might be in danger; shunned and perhaps even hated by the rest of society. My freedom would terrify them.

    Most of these changes would happen as a result of the quiet

    Mindfully going about the business of walking the earth my mind would become calm. My internal dialog would change. The old dialog, previously there simply as a means of confirming my old identity, would be fading. Thoughts about where my next meal was coming from and where I would sleep later in the evening would be my overriding concerns. My mind would certainly not be filled with opinions and judgements about the activities of other people. I would need to draw no comparisons. My thinking would change.

    Being aware of my thoughts would help me ‘catch’ the old habit of comparing myself to others. I might walk past a large beautiful house and momentarily I might start making a comparison. They have everything and I have nothing. This comparison is easily quashed when I become aware: It is me that has freed myself. The house, the status; all there as a prize for the owners success in life. What success? Is success the ‘trappings’ of life? Or is success the discovery of ones self? Ones mind?

    Is success measured by our ability to conform to the ‘norms’ set out by society. It certainly seems this way. What happens when we measure success as non-success? As non-attainment? What happens when we see how success is something built on our need for power over others? I can finally see the power in humility. It is in fact the humble who have true power. The humble-aware are allowing the rest of us to continue making fools of ourselves in our pursuit of power.

    For a time we may lose our minds in our need for the illusion of power. We find our true power when we find our self

    Returning home to ones self is achieved through becoming aware. Our true power is realised when we have awareness. Awareness of the consequences of our thoughts. Awareness of cause and effect. Control over the nature of our thoughts. The strength of mind to bring ourselves home.

  • Mindful Protection

    Gently bring the mind back into the present moment through focusing on the breath

    On the occasions, when we choose to open our minds to what the media is showing us, it seems like the world has gone mad. Has it ever been any different? Large scale conflicts are only symbolic of the turmoil and conflict our leaders are facing. Warped ideology (from our perspective) anger, fear, the need for control, the ego, et cetera, et cetera. All symptomatic of minds out of control.

    Take control of your mind. Take control of your life

    Self consciousness, self awareness, call it what you will. The greater our awareness of thoughts, and how they dictate the kind of life we live, the better. There are those who thrive on chaos. In fact they long for it because it’s all they know. I can relate to this. For much of my time I rejected all that was good in my life through my minds need to feed its addiction to chaos. Constant stimulation. Constant craving. The constant need to ease my loneliness. A loneliness fed by my need for chaos. Can you see the destructive cycle I was in? This is what so many of us are doing: Seeking to ease our loneliness. In the process, our minds take us unceasingly toward what we refuse to look at: Our fear and loneliness. It is us that’s creating the destructive cycle. It is our minds attempt to understand. Great leaders and philosophers of the past knew this and looked to help humanity in its struggles. Until we break the cycle, how will we ever understand? We cannot read and implement what the great leaders of the past taught us without first becoming aware.

    The solution, countless enlightened individuals have found is, mindfulness

    With practice we can get to the root of what we are. We can find a calmness of mind, underneath the chaos, that reveals pure awareness. When we have this, we’re able to notice all the beauty that surrounds us.

    Personal circumstances matter not. There is suffering, yet our suffering can be eased, when we have clear insight into how it is us that amplifies our self-destructive tendency.

    We could choose anger

    Mindfulness helps us understand, it’s what we choose, that determines the quality of life we experience. No matter your circumstances, through learning how to take control of your mind, you empower yourself to make the right choices. If you want purpose in your life make it the development of mindfulness. Develop a beautiful mind. People with purpose make their own choices. Not those dictated to them by others.

  • Sowing the Seeds

    If you have a plan place Understanding Meditation and Mindfulness at its Heart

    Love is Every Step – Thich Nhat Hanh

    It’s certainly how I intend spending my retirement. Someone recently asked me if I was concerned about the future. Being concerned about the future would be to use the wrong terminology. I would suggest, rather than use the word concern, use the word intension. It has positivity.

    I’m using a degree of tension to stay on track. Think of the tension we must apply to a bowstring before firing the arrow. We must have intension as much as we must have purpose. Those with purpose to life tend to have far fewer addictions (stronger willpower) and healthier minds in general.

    In order, to gently and successfully progress with our planned purpose, awareness is key. Mindful of every step.

    Keep an eye on the future

  • The Strawberry and Custard Tart

    I’ve noticed in one of my local supermarkets that there’s a certain dessert that, although very expensive, is very difficult to get hold of

    On the rare occasion I can find them on the shelf I buy a packet of two. One for me and one for my partner. They are delicious. A short crunchy pastry cup filled with sweet custard and topped with fresh half strawberry’s . . . yum! And this is the very reason they’re in such short supply; they’re so lovely. And here ‘s the thing; they are very expensive. Even so, they sell out, so very quickly. The lesson being: if something is right people will pay for it. It will be in demand. Especially if it satisfies a craving and makes us feel good.

    Is it not the case that the whole of humanity is craving something good? With this in mind how would it be if you were the Strawberry and Custard Tart? How do we need to be so that we’re craved after and in demand?

    In short, the simple answer is, we all need to be excellent examples, of human beings. And there are some excellent examples out there. They just disappear of the shelves rather quickly.

    Quite the opposite are the extreme examples the media like to make so much fuss of. The humans that feel they have the right to dictate how we live, and even if we live at all, are most certainly not Strawberry and Custard tarts. More like a burger made of meat manufactured in a lab. Yuck!

  • Your Awareness: A Completely Impartial Observer

    During meditation we can experience moments of realisation. During brief moments of silence, we realise that beneath all the chatter of our internal dialog, there exists a silent observer. We realise that this observer is our awareness. And at our core this is all that we are

    It stands to reason, that from the moment of our birth, we have experienced many things. It is our interpretation of these events that shape and decide how we see the world. How others act and how they interact with our actions and behaviours, determine the opinions we form about ourselves, and others.

    Initially, these things are ascertained from sights, sounds, tastes, and feelings. Do we feel threatened, or do we feel safe. We begin to ask: How must I act to continue feeling safe? What do I need to do to increase my sense of wellbeing, love, and security? What must I do to get what I want? Our beliefs and our identity (who am I?) begin to form from a very early age.

    What we believe we are is the sum total of the beliefs formed from our experiences. Thoughts result from the vast belief systems that now exist within our minds. We are what we believe we are. Our internal dialog is there simply to compound our identity forming beliefs. Who are you in fact talking to?

    During meditation we can ask this: Who was I just talking to? Was I talking to myself? Once our realisation holds that, beneath all the chatter there is only awareness, we begin to see how it is the minds beliefs that are creating identity. The next step in our development is to see the possibilities that are now forming. We can ask: If all that I am is this collection of beliefs, what beliefs must I lose and what beliefs must I start believing, to improve my quality of life?

    It’s a certain fact, understanding the nature of our beliefs, causes them to become more fluid. We can realise they only belong to us because we’re choosing to compound them. Much of what we believe about our selves can either be redesigned or disposed of altogether.

  • Finding Refuge Through Meditation and Mindfulness

    Whenever I find myself feeling anxious or overly emotional, I remind myself, of what my skills of meditation and mindfulness offer me. The knowledge that I have these tools, easily at my disposal, instantly reassures me

    It doesn’t matter what our age or circumstances there are going to be times when we feel troubled. It’s life. Life is meant to challenge us from time to time. It’s part of the process. It’s not possible for us to grow and experience the full kaleidoscope, of what life has to offer us, if we’re not occasionally challenged.

    Meditation leads to an improved level of stillness and calm that comes from everyday mindfulness

    It’s common nowadays for people to comment on how calm they find me. They describe me as a ‘calming influence’ and this is something I’m proud of. I’m proud because this has not always been the case. Quite the opposite in fact.

    I have, in the past, allowed my emotions to control my actions. This can of course be disastrous. And so, as a result of improving my mental fitness – through daily meditation – I’m capable of being increasingly mindful. I’m mindful of how my judgments, opinions, beliefs, thoughts and emotions, influence my behavior and, above all, my choices. When I’m troubled, I take refuge in my practice. I dedicate time to calm myself before making decisions or taking action.

  • Embracing Existence: Finding Joy in Simplicity

    That’s it, just sit with me for a moment. I want you to sit with me and listen. Be attentive to my words

    I want you to imagine a mindset where you are happy and contented with only your basic needs met. This contentment has been brought about as a result of your full appreciation of the wonder of the very fact that you exist. From moment to moment you’re able to fully grasp the absolutely, extraordinary nature, of existence.

    It’s a little like dispensing with everything we’re told we must accomplish and experience during the course of our lives. It’s a little like imagining we’ve already done everything we’re conditioned to believe we must. It’s as if we’re happy and contented from the moment we are born.

    As we think about it now, isn’t a new born child, once it’s needs are met, happy and contented? Is it not the case, that a child is happy and contented, with only the wonder of it all?

    As we begin to allow our minds to become acutely aware of our existence, we can begin to become child like, once again. Before we were born, only the elements, that would later take the form of our human selves, existed. We were then conceived and spent approximately nine months growing in the comfort of our mothers womb. Now born we exist in the form of a human being. In time we will cease to exist in our present form, and the elements that made us, will return to the earth once again. How would life be if we were able to find happiness and contentment in the wonder of this. The fantastic wonder of our existence.

    You are breathing. You are existent. What more do you want?