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]

[PartTimeBrewer]

My cross to bear today.

[PartTimeBrewer]

[PartTimeBrewer]

My past has is full of lessons learned the hard way, but it is not a place where I would want to live.

[PartTimeBrewer]

My Tai Chi Chih instructor asked the class for testimonials to include in a booklet she is preparing. Here is my submission

the joy of motion

grace balance agility

moving mindfulness

[PartTimeBrewer]

Think about how you think about yourself. If you are like me, much of it is an ongoing narrative that you create in your mind where you are the protagonist and there is also a you that is like a narrator. How attached are you to this narrative? Mindfulness is being able to step out of this narrative and perhaps distance yourself from it, seeing life your life with a little less bias. Perhaps this is the reason seasoned meditators report a sense of compassion and goodwill for others.

[PartTimeBrewer]

I really wish I could bring myself to meditate for longer than about ten minutes at a time, but my ADD usually wins out by then.   OH LOOK, A SQUIRREL!   Now where where was I?...

[PartTimeBrewer]

"The secret of success is to be in harmony with existence, to be always calm, ... to let each wave of life wash us a little farther up the shore."  -  Cyril Connolly

[PartTimeBrewer]

I normally tend to be wary of quotes that start ' The secret of ..."  But for some reason the wave metaphor felt really authentic.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Remember, the silence in between the notes is just as important as the notes themselves."  -  B  D. Schiers

[PartTimeBrewer]

The notes in the above quote are an obvious metaphor for your thoughts. Meditation is supposed to be a technique to allow you to focus on the silent spots between your thoughts. I guess it's a foreground/background illusion. Some day I will be able to see it.

[PartTimeBrewer]