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 learn to let go over and over and over again as our children age. This is giving generously to the garden of the next generation, for giving and awareness is the path of awakening.”  ~  Jack Kornfield

[PartTimeBrewer]

"As a society we’re in such a hurry to get the lesson and move on. We’ve created a kind of fast intellect that, like fast food, is devoid of nutritional value. It’s healthy to have questions that are too big to solve on our lunch break. This exploration is key to transformation."  ~  Jason Garner

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Take a deep breath and remind yourself that it’s okay. It’s okay to be just as you are right now. It’s okay to feel sad, or mad, scared, or confused. The greatest gift we can give ourselves and each other is this simple message that we’re okay as we are." ~ Jason Garner

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Just watching an animal closely can take you out of your mind and bring you into the present moment, which is where the animal lives all the time - surrendered to life."

— Eckhart Tolle

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Mindfulness of oneself cultivates wisdom.
Mindfulness of others cultivates compassion."
— Stonepeace

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Many of the things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because we took the trouble of paying attention to them." - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Use every distraction as an object of meditation and they cease to be distractions."
❖ Mingyur Rinpoche

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Action is not something you do, it's something you are. In other words, you are not a noun, you're a verb. That is our #truenature."

— Joanna Macy

[PartTimeBrewer]

I guess that's why 'to be' is conjugated as a verb. But sometimes it's still useful to just sit and and exist as a noun. Mixed signals today.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"A way of life that keeps saying 'Around the next corner, above the next step,' works against the natural order of things and makes it so difficult to be happy and good."
― Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

[PartTimeBrewer]

Life is an adventure. You are not lost.

Be where you are.

Make a light of yourself.

The way is       through.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Nature and humans are not separate. When you go home to nature, you go home to yourself, to your own body, mind and heart. You re-establish a connection that was lost and this has a great power to heal. Go home and heal."
❖ Thich Nhat Hanh