Practising Mindfulness

Category: World Affairs

  • From Turmoil to Stillness (limitless potential)

    There’s a torrid restlessness driven by a longing that must be satisfied. The driving, to fulfill what the heart believes, is so overwhelming, that nothing can stop its progress. Only once you hold the potential in your hands will you ever calm the torment of a restless mind

    We’re all longing for something aren’t we? And how many of us actually know what it is we seek? Perhaps, like most, there’s a driving that comes from deep within that can’t be defined. We don’t understand this desire, we just blindly pursue it. We’re restless until all the pieces are in place. And yet what are the pieces? What is it we want?

    Even though we’re unable to define this longing within us; unable to see the end goal, we keep on striving for it

    It’s like the new born child who doesn’t understand hunger but just knows there’s something required. In order to survive the baby senses their needs. The methods used to gain these requirements is to appeal to its carer. The appeal is formed through crying and wriggling – to display restlessness – until soothed and provided for. Why should our minds now be any different? As long as we believe there is a requirement for our survival, that’s not being met, we will feel the very same torment and restlessness, experienced by the child.

    And what of us who’re unable to find this requirement? That, I would suggest, is most of us. There is no satisfying a restless mind that doesn’t understand what it seeks, and so stop your pretense. Instead, own up, to your incompleteness

    If patience is a gentle appreciation of potential, perhaps the turmoil will cease, when everything is in place. Perhaps, once the egg has been laid, the waiting is made bearable through the potential that grows within it.

    When you sit and meditate, seek the understanding of how it is you, that grows within the egg. What comes to you then, as a result of waiting patiently, is not the brief satisfaction – gained from achieving what it is you believed the requirement was – but the simple stillness of mind gained from acknowledging your limitless potential.

    Learn to meditate

  • Calm Yourself

    background image courtesy of pixabay

    If you find yourself attempting to influence or control, those things that you’re ultimately powerless to alter, take a deep breath. Seeking to change something that will always move independently of you causes stress and frustration. Recognise and accept, the only thing you have power over is, your own mind. How you perceive the world, and events beyond your control, is crucial to your well being and entirely under your control.

    Feelings of powerlessness are only compounded when we’re seeking to achieve the impossible

    What becomes possible is the altering of believes, viewpoints, opinions and perception. When we have the understandings of how to begin this process, we are truly, empowered.

    Calm yourself – Home-based Hypnotherapy Services

  • Loves Freedom

    Fear can come in many guises, and yet once we become aware of it, we have the power to push it away

    I was reminded recently of the manipulative nature of fear. It’s important to consider that it is OUR fear that manipulates us. For example, if we fear loss or hardship, it is this that others are able to tap into. Once our fear is tapped into they’re able to bend us to their will. Whether this fear is generated by a lonely parent, who threatens to change a will, or job insecurities that enable an employer to gain more than their monies worth, it is OUR fear that’s the problem.

    When we turn to love – of ourselves, our lives and our time – fear melts away

    Of course, if we’re to lose the type of fear, the above examples generate, we need to be in love with the very basics of what life has to offer. If we believe, deep in our hearts, that as a consequence of the wily whits evolution has provided us, that we will always be okay, fear has no hold on us. When we fully understand how personal responsibility applies to everyone, and are fearless of loss or hardship, no one has a hold on us either. Sometimes we may need to face up to the hardship – of not having everything we want – and we might miss the futures we imagined, however, be assured that these are only lessons in our beautiful journey through life. Free yourself and turn to love.

  • Your Own World – A Beautiful Place

    The beliefs, choices, and decisions others make, have nothing to do with you

    Yesterday morning I went swimming in the sea. It’s the first time I’ve been at that time of day. I suppose I’ve never really felt motivated enough to do it before. There was light mizzle in the air and the sky was grey, even so, I had a fantastic experience and all was well in my world. Other than how wonderful it was, I thought of nothing, during my swimming experience. During this time I was free from opinions and therefore my reoccurring anger at human madness.

    It does take effort, time and the motivation, to create your own world

    The most important aspect of this, is the ability to free ourselves from opinions and judgement. In the past I’ve felt compelled; driven to form and share my opinions. Almost as if I didn’t have the right to not have one. This, no doubt, comes from a judgemental and authoritarian parent who always insisted I answered every question posed and opinion sought. Perhaps you can relate to this in some way? Now though I realise I do actually have the right to no opinion.

    Free yourself and create your own world away from opinions and judgement. They only compound ideas and beliefs that probably weren’t even yours to begin with.

  • Start as you Mean to Go On

    Consider how things would feel if you started a relationship as companions and just waited to see how things worked out

    Relationships have always been a tricky business. We’re often left guessing as to someone’s intentions, integrity and desires. We might try certain types of manipulation and gameplay in order to gain this information. We might try to control behaviour and outcomes. All part of the human condition.

    At the beginning of a relationship if someone had stated: “what I want right now is companionship and an open mind”, I’d of either run a mile, or been intrigued

    We can easily envisage a long term relationship evolving into a beautiful companionship, and so what I’m suggesting, is that we think about forming this kind of relationship before anything else. Think about how all the gameplay, manipulation and fear, has long since dissolved from a relationship that is purely based on our human need for companionship. How beautiful would it be if we started in that place?

  • The Search

    The search for fulfillment of our beliefs is a constant process. If you believe you are guilty, for example, during meditation, your mind will seek to find examples of this belief. During therapy this would be encouraged, during meditation, we must recognise the searching nature of mind, and give ourselves clear, exact instructions. We say: ‘Search for an awareness of my breathing’

  • Freedom is a State of Mind

    Whatever it is you want freedom from, be it poor mental health, poverty, the influence of others, or just the simple destructive nature of negativity, it all starts with your own mind

  • Love is Forever

    Through leading a good life, when we are gone, all that remains is love

    It isn’t complicated, leading a good life. In fact, it’s the simplest thing there is. I think of the people who’ve led peaceful lives and I gain a sense of the love that remains. After the peaceful man or woman is gone there are only fond memories. There are only memories of the lessons in love they taught us.

    Like many there’s been fear in my life, yet, there is the knowledge, that holding on to the memories, beliefs, and feelings fear creates, is pointless

    Yes it’s true, these things don’t remain after we’ve gone, they’re forgotten, so why hang on to them now? Let them go. In my mind, the most influential people of the past, are the one’s who’ve led peaceful lives. It’s those people who’ve stayed within the boundaries of decent, loving behaviour, that endure in the memories of the majority. I don’t see monuments, cathedrals and places of remembrance, for the haters, or controlling, power hungry, dictators.

    All evidence of man’s existence will of course one day be gone but, it’s my belief, that even then, what will remain is information containing the evidence that we have loved. That we have loved each other, our home, and ourselves. Look up at the stars and instantly fall in love with the wonder of the universe. Look at each other, through the eyes of an innocent child, and you will love. So sit for a moment and let it all go. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we seek to lead peaceful loving lives, because this, is all we leave behind. Love. x

  • Thought Aware

    Even though we’re unable to stop the thinking process we can raise our awareness to WHAT we’re thinking

    When I look around and see happy people who have experienced adversity I think to myself, how do they do that? And the answer that has returned in the past has been that they must be capable of not thinking. This is of course impossible, so the sensible answer is, these people must be in control of what they’re thinking. And so the next question that comes to mind is, how are they in control of their thoughts?

    It’s true to say, we are what we think we are, and, therefore, we are our thoughts

    Only this morning I heard the comment: ‘Wow! It’s nearly June already!’ and my response was to say: ‘Yes and hasn’t it been a long winter,’ both a bit negative when you think of it. And so, in order to countermand these words, my next comment was . . . ‘And I’m looking forward to a lovely long summer.’

    When we consider that words are always preceded by thought – if sometimes by only a fraction of a second – we can know, that through gaining an increased awareness of our thoughts, we can alter our lives in extraordinary ways. If our tendency is to be a little negative sometimes, we must raise our awareness to our predominant thoughts, or be damned by our own minds.

    Mindfulness practice concerns raising our awareness to the nature of our thoughts

    The constant internal chatter of our minds often continues just beneath our full awareness. When we sit during meditation, we become increasingly aware, of how intrusive our thoughts can be on our point of focus. In this manner we become acutely aware of what we’re thinking from moment to moment. And it is this that has the effect of raising our general awareness to the nature of our thoughts.

    Simple really is powerful. The main problem is, we’re so often told to look for complicated solutions to, what can seem, complicated issues

    Because mindfulness practice is simple it can be overlooked or undervalued. To some extent we can pin this undervaluation on the western beliefs that if something cost’s nothing, or very little, it can’t be any good. Buddhists and other meditators seem willing to give their knowledge away for free, however, if you look long enough, you’ll see that the information given is far from free. Time and attention given to any subject automatically awards it great value. And think about that: Time and Attention given to any subject gives it great value.

    The one precious recourse we must give ourselves and our mindfulness practice is time

    Yes, it takes a few minutes of focused attention every day to raise awareness to our thoughts, and yet when we truly understand the power our thinking holds over our lives, we will willingly give this time to ourselves. Take notice of the simplest solutions, they are the ones with all the power.

  • Who’s Responsible?

    As obvious as it might sound we must always remember to place responsibility where it lies

    I’ve recently experienced a problem with my post and now find myself worrying as to whether future parcels and letters are going to reach me or not. In a quieter moment, I let this worry go, by recognising that the only responsibilities I have, is to ensure my address is clearly marked on the door, and that I’m either in when my mail is expected, or have made alternative arrangements for where it can be dropped off. Beyond this, I have no control over the situation whatsoever. If my mail doesn’t turn up, all I’m able to do is contact the carrier responsible for my parcels and make a claim for lost items. Not having experienced this before, I’m assuming they will now look for the lost item, and if not found, I will be reimbursed to the value of its contents.

    The point to gain is, worrying about anything that isn’t our responsibility, and consequently have no control over, is wasted energy

    Whilst wasting energy, on things that are neither our responsibility or under our control, we’re not getting on with the important business of fulfilling what is. Leave the job of delivering mail to the carrier and focus on what really matters: your responsibilities.

    It brings to mind the important business of ensuring we take proper responsibility for ourselves. An extreme example would be codependent relationships. I’ve recently heard the issue of codependence taken very lightly and even suggested as acceptable. Perhaps to some it is, however, the trouble with a codependent relationship, is its restrictive nature. It’s the old joke about the dying man who’d been in a codependent relationship all his married life and how, in the moment of his death, he saw someone else’s life pass before his eyes. Those within abusive relationships don’t often see it until it’s too late.

    And so, once again, be sure to focus on bringing your own mind under your own control (if you don’t someone else will) and only concern yourself with what you’re responsible for. And if you’re in the business of delivering mail, surely, it’s a specialty of yours, to know where the mail should be going? Take care, take responsibility, and focus on what your specialty is, and all will be well.