Mindfulness

[PartTimeBrewer]

              I am starting a new thread here mainly for purposes of my own catharsis. It is my intention, at least at this point, to make regular contributions. Of course, if anyone else has anything to add, they are more than welcome. If you have any input, please contribute.

              Over a year ago I decided to deal head-on with my self-diagnosed adult attention disorder, (ADD). The inability to stay focused was becoming too stressful. I found myself sitting around watching the clock tick, yet I couldn’t keep “on task” with any project I started. Nothing was getting done and just starting something was becoming depressing.

              The smart thing to do was probably to get professional help, so instead I decided to try to heal myself, at least as a first try. Cognitive therapy and pharmaceuticals (UGH) might be the approved way to go but I decided to try meditation first.

              18 months and countless self-help books later, I still can’t bring myself to a regular, formal meditation program. But, along the way, I discovered informal mindfulness. Yes, I know it is the “Fad” right now. It is hard to navigate modern social trends without “tripping over” somebody extolling the benefits of mindfulness.

              Let me add my voice to the chorus.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"The trick is to enjoy life. Don’t wish away all your days waiting for better ones ahead. Just appreciate where you are, for what it’s worth. You've come a long way, and you're still learning and growing. Be thankful for the lessons. Take them & make the best of things right now."

~ Marc and Angel Chernoff

[PartTimeBrewer]

"To cling to security is only to cling to oneself, and perish of strangulation."

~ Alan Watts

[PartTimeBrewer]

Just know what is happening in your mind: not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer, see it, know it and be empty. ~ Ajahn Cha

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Sometimes reality hurts, but not as much as the illusion we create when we don’t want to accept it.” ~JmStorm

[PartTimeBrewer]

"...spirituality, when pure, connects us to the godhead with infinitely more efficacy and grace than does religiosity."
~ Tom Robbins

[PartTimeBrewer]

"The better you know your own pain, the more you will understand the pain of others. In this view, “negative” feelings can be examined as ways to open more thoroughly to others."
~ Susan Piver

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Suppressing our emotions doesn’t make them go away. We need to accept them, understand where they’re coming from, and then proactively work through them."

~ Tiny Buddha

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Sometimes the detours deliver the best lessons. When things don't work out as planned, I trust there’s a possibility that they'll work out better.” ~Alex Elle

[PartTimeBrewer]

“If compassion without wisdom is blind, compassion without action is hypocritical.”
~ Matthieu Ricard

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Enlightenment is the lived understanding that the stable, separate person we believe ourselves to be is a kind of illusion."
Andrew @everydayawaken

[PartTimeBrewer]

"So, under that view, no person is ever enlightened, as there is no person to be enlightened"

Andrew @everydayawaken

[PartTimeBrewer]

It's like a zen koan. Enlightenment is awakening to the value in this paradox.