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]

"Mindfulness pulls one away from the immature ego's insistent self-concern, and in the process it enhances one's equilibrium in the face of incessant change. This turns out to be enormously helpful in dealing with the many indignities life throws at us." ~ Mark Epstein M. D.

[PartTimeBrewer]

“Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it, the more it will evade you, but if you notice the other things around you, it will gently come and sit on your shoulder.” ~Henry David Thoreau

[PartTimeBrewer]

Of course, this may require something that appears to be in short order in our modern world, namely patience. This is where cultivating a mindful awareness of everything that is 'in the moment" becomes indispensable.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind."  ~  David G. Allen

[PartTimeBrewer]

"In Buddhism, patience is an act of self-compassion that gives rise to eqanimity."  ~  Toni Bernhard

[PartTimeBrewer]

Everything is available at the touch of a button these days. We have lost touch with the power of waiting.

Waiting to speak, waiting to act, waiting to decide.
~ Everyday Mindfulness

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Death is a fact of life. We hide from it, not only by avoiding it, but also by making too big a deal out of it."  ~  Mark Epstein M. D.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Stop making such a big deal out ot it. Life is like this. Like fireworks. Vibrant and alive, and then gone." ~  Joseph Goldstein, as quoted by Mark Epstein M. D.

[Jozee]

Sending this one to my daughter.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Grief is just love with no place to go."  ~  Jamie Anderson

[Jozee]

I know so well.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"It takes courage and discipline to go slow, live simply, and see clearly. But the rewards are great. What ordinary thing can we do together today?" ~ William Martin