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]

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." -- THORNTON WILDER

[PartTimeBrewer]

Assuming we are defining treasures as those things that money can't buy. The lesson here is gratitude, not greed.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"....compassion is not just a vague moral imperative. Rather, it’s a pragmatic skill to transform the experience of suffering."

~ Katherine King

[PartTimeBrewer]

"When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves."

-- VICTOR E. FRANKL

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Modesty is the foundation of all virtues. Let your neighbors discover you before you make yourself known to them."

~ Zengetsu, a Chinese Chan master of T'ang dynasty

[PartTimeBrewer]

"I want death to find me planting my cabbages, worrying about neither it nor my imperfect garden."
~ Montaigne

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Your past is not your potential. In any hour you can choose to liberate the future." -- MARILYN FERGUSON

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Just noticing “I’m afraid right now,” “I feel sad,” or “I want to jump out of my skin,” is an act of intimacy. It’s not evidence we’re failing at life, but that we’re paying attention to what it’s like to be human. And we can simply respond by meeting ourselves with compassion."
~ Jason Garner

[PartTimeBrewer]

"The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle." — Tara Brach

[PartTimeBrewer]

“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” -- MAYA ANGELOU

[PartTimeBrewer]

Pause and check in:
How are you feeling?
What are you grateful for right now?

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Being unable to control events I control myself: I adjust myself to them if they do not adjust themselves to me."
~ Michel de Montaigne