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 let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have this choice." ~ Pema Chodron

[PartTimeBrewer]

Notice the choices you make today. Are they made from habit, or from your current needs? Experiment with pausing before making decisions."  ~  the Mindfulness Project

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Don't blame a clown for being a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus."  ~  Little  Buddah

[Westerly_2]

;^ )

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Much personal discord and suffering comes because we are unwilling to view our lives and relationships as pilgrimages and journeys, designed to take us deeper into the mystery of who we are. Instead we demand control and consistency. We demand that life be reasonable." Brenda Shoshanna

[PartTimeBrewer]

"As long as we’re caught up in always looking for certainty and hsppiness, rather than honoring the taste and smell and quality of exactly what is happening, as long as we’re always running away from discomfort, we’re going to be caught in a cycle of unhappiness and disappointment, and we will feel weaker and weaker." ~ Pema Chodron

[PartTimeBrewer]

“What you have been taught by listening to others’ words you will forget very quickly, What you have learned with your whole body you will remember for the rest of your life.” ~ karate master Gichin Funakoshi

[PartTimeBrewer]

Like riding a bicycle, you have to learn by doing it yourself. The bicycle metaphor for life is useful in many ways. Not only do you have to experience it yourself, but you have to keep going forward into new situations. You can't stop. And balance is about staying in the middle ground.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Suffering begins to dissolve when we can question the belief or the hope that there’s anywhere to hide." ~ Pema Chodron

[PartTimeBrewer]

"We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy, and doubt, that peace and abundance may manifest for all." -Dorothy Day

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Would you like to meet with your feelings? Don't judge. Don't suppress. Don't indulge. Don't run away. Just stay here." ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Pain comes, okay. Joy comes, good. We do not push one away, or pull another to us. It's presumptuous to think we always know which is which." ~ Brenda Shoshanna