Practising Mindfulness

Category: Meditation

  • Destress Through Mindfulness

    When we’re mindful and focused on those things that really matter we automatically care less about the things that don’t

    It is important to bear in mind that the statement above is empty unless we become actively involved in learning how to improve our ability to be mindful.

    To be mindful simply means to be aware. Aware of the present moment. To be this way we will need to train the mind in certain ways to improve our mental fitness.

    Keeping the mind aware and present takes a lot of mental energy. If the mind isn’t fit it will have become undisciplined.

    The natural tendency is for the mind to follow the path of least resistance and in this way it conserves energy.

    If the mind is unfit this becomes ever more the habit. Our thoughts drift and wonder because the mind is lazy in its habits.

    To be present and aware (alive) we need mental fitness. This is achieved through learning the ancient art of meditation.

    One of the simplest disciplines to learn yet one of the hardest to follow if we are lazy. Bit of a paradox there I feel.

    The solution is the need to improve. We must want an improved quality of life. We must want to be fully alive

    If you are stressed and dissatisfied with your lot, by simply allowing the mind to lazily follow the path of least resistance, nothing will change.

    Except the fact that you’re getting older, that is.

    Life may well just pass you by as your mind wonders off into the past, future or fantasy.

    At the risk of sounding like I’m repeating myself, when we’re able to bring the mind constantly back to the things that are important to us, we will automatically care less about the things that don’t.

  • Something from Nothing

    How can something come from nothing? What happened before time? What was there before the birth of the universe? Can something really come from nothing?

    I sense my addiction to stimulation on a constant basis. Indeed there was a time when my need for stimulation was at the extreme end of the scale. I needed chaos. I needed mania. There had to be something going on constantly. And if not I would find a way to create the chaos I craved. Drama. Oh yes please.

    Imagine coming to the understanding that the thing you prided yourself on (thinking) has actually been the cause of your troubles.

    I used to spend a lot of time in my head. Loneliness will cause this. Thinking, judging, ruminating, puzzling, questioning on and on and on. Constant chatter and deliberation. Chaos in my head and chaos in my life. So here is the solution . . . nothing.

    In my current role I spend a lot of time doing nothing. There are periods of time when I don’t see a customer for days. This can be excruciating for someone who needs stimulation.

    There is a need to keep the mind occupied if you’re addicted to stimulation. This can take the form of thinking or perhaps reading or watching something. Anything to take the mind out of the present moment. Because in the present moment there is nothing happening. And for me, purely because of my addiction, this nothing can be very tricky to deal with. There is even the possibility I’ll look to fill this nothing with eating! Again my addiction to sugar kicks in. Can you gain a sense of my dilemma?

    A dilemma until I find myself able to cope with nothingness in the present moment. And then something does come from nothing . . . calm control over my mind and my beautiful life.

    Learn to improve mindfulness from the gentle art of meditation

  • Carrying Suffering that has no Place in the Here and Now

    Something that has come to light recently for me is the subject of suffering. In particular, I’ve become aware of the possibility, that I’ve been hanging on to suffering that occurred many years ago. To some extent we all do this. Can becoming aware, that we haven’t fully resolved and let go of past suffering, instigates the process of change?

    There is no doubt in my mind that if we continue to hold on to suffering from the past, it will reveal itself to us in ways that bring suffering, in the present

    Put simply, if we fail to resolve and let go of the past, our health will suffer. And in the present moment this might manifest as backache, hypertension, headaches, joint pain, obesity . . . you name it. As the saying goes: ‘The body weeps the tears the eyes refuse to shed.’

    We must find a way to extinguish the pain of the past. This can be achieved through firstly becoming ware of it, and then accepting it as past. It has no place or bearing on the present. It has no bearing on the present because it no longer exists. It is an imagined past (that could well be misremembered anyway) just as the future is imagined. We must also stop blaming the people and situations of the past. Constantly blaming our difficulties on the circumstances we faced in the past only exacerbates our problems. It never helps to seek blame.

    The present moment, void of past and future thinking, can create a beautiful freedom. Logical thinking can sometimes be very beneficial

    We can ask ourselves: how is it I still feel guilty for the mistakes I made all those years ago? The answer may well be that we’ve failed to acknowledge them and accept; that was then and this is now. That was what I was learning at that time. For some reason, only known to yourself, the mind sees a benefit to holding on and replaying the past. Guilt and self-pity can do this.

    In the same way we hold on to suffering from the past, are our expectations, concepts and ideas (beliefs) of happiness stuck there also?

    A common mistake is to assume that the conditions for happiness, we found when young, should remain the same throughout life. This cannot be the case. We have grown and therefore the conditions we have for happiness must evolve also. If we continue to seek the same conditions (imagined or real) in ways we did as a child, it simply won’t work. We’ll never fully realise our true self: A happiness that can come from within. Ponder for a moment: what conditions need to arise for me to feel well now? Now that I am grown what conditions must I maintain to bring out a true sense of joy?

  • Self-awareness & Objectivity with Mindfulness

    I noticed in the news today that the mother of a child that was murdered by fellow students wants mindfulness introduced into schools. The story doesn’t make it clear what she believes there is to gain from this and I can only imagine it’s the following:

    Mindfulness increases self-awareness through our ability to see ourselves objectively

    Although this is the case, for children who have murder on their minds, for objectivity to be a preventative measure, these children would firstly need some comparisons and of course a developed sense of wrong and right. They would need a developed understanding of cause and effect. They would also initially need to care about whether their actions are wrong or right. Does self-awareness and objectivity award this to a child?

    My personal feeling is that it would need to be the parents, carers or those responsible for murderous children, to be the ones who’re more mindful

    Mindful parents are those who’re aware of what children’s minds are exposed to and the effects of this exposure. Mindful children who’ve been exposed to – and consequently instilled with – prejudices, hatred and the belief violence is a solution, will still commit murder. In fact, it might even make them better at it. Mindfulness training for children, on its own, would be insufficient.

  • Be Mindful of the Power of Belief

    I grew up with religion. My parents were Roman Catholic. As soon as I was able to leave my childhood home, I rejected religion completely. At least consciously. As a result of my experiences of religion and my training in the psychology of beliefs later in life, I came to understand, at a deep level, how powerful and influential our beliefs are.

    The next time you get the opportunity, if you want to experience the power of beliefs firsthand, visit a large building built through the belief in God. Pause and take it all in.

    In my mind, as may be the case with yourself, religion isn’t fact, only belief. Even so, look at what humans do simply through the power of their beliefs. Always be mindful of what you choose to believe, fact or fiction, you can see it with your own two eyes.

  • Calm and Untroubled Because I am Mindful

    What is it that causes anxiety? What is it that causes fear? How is it I fret and worry?

    It is my mind. It is my thoughts. For when my mind is still, there is no fear. There is no anger, worry, or anxiety. What remains is a beautiful feeling of serenity. Heaven on earth. A place I’ve found from within.

    It may take some time to reach this place, and when you do, you may wonder why it has taken so long to find such a simple solution. Stop questioning even this. Dismiss it as unimportant. What matters is that you are finally here.

  • Catch your Destructive Thoughts

    It is possible to catch our destructive thoughts before they become actions. To achieve this, we must practise. We must learn to Meditate, and we must then turn our improved mental strength into everyday Mindfulness. We must be dogged and determined if we are to improve our mental health and quality of life

    It may seem like an oversimplification to say the cause of our troubles, lies within our thinking, and yet this is an inescapable truth. The tendency with sitting Meditation is for us to not practise. We must. And we must practise every day if we are to gain the life changing ability of catching our thoughts.

  • Mindful of our Happiness

    If we’re unhappy, mindfulness, on its own, isn’t going to change this. It’s very likely that what mindfulness will do is make us acutely aware of our unhappiness in the present moment.

    The value of this awareness is in how it helps us reach the tipping point, necessary for us to instigate change, that little bit sooner. In fact, without mindfulness, we can live our entire lives, never fully realising the happiness we deserve.

  • You Already Are What You Want to Become

    We might ask: How is it this kind of language and thinking isn’t being heard as much as it should? Much of what you will hear in this video is simple and straight forward. It is its very simplicity that makes it so challenging to listen to. Also by adopting the principles and beliefs talked about here you will need to change. And change is the most challenging thing of all. But change we must

  • Replace all the Parts

    When components are interconnected it means all of the parts will experience wear. If we replace a shock absorber on a car’s suspension system, we must replace all the interconnected components that are also likely to be worn. If not, we won’t experience the full benefit of the replaced part, and quite possibly, cause damage to this new part as a result.

    In this respect, if we want mindfulness to be effective, and receive great benefits from our practise, we must have an understanding of the interconnectedness and relationships between our thoughts and behaviours. Provided our understanding is deep enough, the practice of mindfulness, can improve our lives and help us understand why we do what we do. When we have this understanding we have the power to change.

    If we wish, we can trace the origins of mindfulness, back to Buddhism. And if we’re embarking on a spiritual path, as a means of developing ourselves, or simply because we have an interest in this area, then I will agree with the Buddhist’s point of view – that we cannot have mindfulness, without Buddhist beliefs.

    I am not on a spiritual path but I do want a healthy mind and body. In this respect, developing and improving my awareness of actions, words. thoughts, their root, and how they effect me, is the way forward. This, is to have a deep understanding, of mindfulness.

    I must remember that the mind is predisposed to reject what contrary to the established beliefs I hold. And to question the effectiveness of complicated solutions will help with this. Simple is challenging, and yet simple solutions, are always the most powerful. It’s conflicting beliefs that complicate matters. The belief that mindfulness must be associated with being spiritual can hold us back. We can take this one aspect of a belief system (mindfulness), believe in it’s effectiveness, and improve our general wellbeing.

    I feel that it’s much to the chagrin of spiritual leaders that we can take one aspect of a belief system, without having to abide to ridged doctrines, for it to be effective. However, to succeed at our endeavour of improved wellbeing, we must grasp all aspects of what it means to be mindful.

    The challenge is mindfulness in itself. Our addiction to being over stimulated, through thinking, lifestyle, beliefs and our behaviours is, so powerful, that the mind would much rather stick with this chaos, than find the opposing state of mind stillness will bring. The mind is often completely unaccustomed to stillness, especially during stressful, anxious times. And we can still the mind, through a deep understanding of mindfulness, even when what’s going on around us is the usual chaos. All we need do is believe it’s possible.