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 secret to being grateful is no secret. You choose to be grateful a little bit every day. So do your best to find gratitude for what you have today. Because some of it is a blessing. And nothing lasts forever."  ~ Marc &Angel Chernoff 

[PartTimeBrewer]

You didn’t go to sleep hungry last night. You had a choice of what to wear today. You have access to clean drinking water. You have access to the internet. You can read. The secret to being grateful is no secret. You choose to be grateful for the little things, again and again."  ~  Marc and Angel Chernoff 

[PartTimeBrewer]

"What we see depends mainly on what we look for." ~ John Lubbock

[PartTimeBrewer]

"We do not “come into” this world; we come *out* of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean “waves,” the universe “peoples.” Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe."  ~  Alan Watts

[PartTimeBrewer]

"The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it." ~ W.M. Lewis

[PartTimeBrewer]

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. ~ Guillaume Apollinaire

[PartTimeBrewer]

"When you don't cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life." ~ Eckhart Tolle

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Thinking can be the problem, not the solution, when there’s nothing more to fix or to be done." ~ Mindful Online

[PartTimeBrewer]

“When you’re being curious, you’re not judging. Inspect your experience like a child closely examining a leaf for the first time. This helps takes the power away from the strong emotion you’re feeling in that moment.” ~ Unknown

[PartTimeBrewer]

"To be kind, you must swerve regularly from your path." ~ unknown, quoted by Tara Brach

[PartTimeBrewer]

“Suffering is our call to attention, our call to investigate the truth of our beliefs.” Tara Brach

[PartTimeBrewer]

I know plenty of people who would tell me that they just don't  have a personal philosophy. I don't normally engage them on this point, but if I did it would be to say "Yes you do. You just haven't articulated it to yourself well enough to understand why you say and do the things  you do."