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]

"You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need."  ~  Vernon Howard 

[PartTimeBrewer]

"As long as we think, act, live via an object, or as an object: that is bondage."  ~  Wei Wu Wei

[PartTimeBrewer]

A small child needs to learn much to be able to function independently. But how much of that learning consists of damaging prejudices and mistruths, biases of society?  In Zen they speak of the value of returning to a childlike Beginner's mind to see reality as it is, not as we have constructed it our heads.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Knowledge is learning something new every day.

Wisdom is letting go of something every day.

~  Zen proverb

[Westerly_2]

I like it.

[PartTimeBrewer]

I feel guilty sometimes because meditation and mindfulness seem so self centered. Why  am I working so hard on ME instead of trying to fix the world's problems? Of course I can't do that by myself. I can only work on my small corner of the world. And I can't fix anything if I am broken.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Is peace merely the absence of war, or is it tranquility despite the conflict?   Is happiness the absence of suffering, or is it contentment despite the imperfections?"  ~  Timber Hawkeye

[PartTimeBrewer]

This is not the sort of tranquility and contentment that guides me into inactivity and isolation from the world. It leaves me stable, calm and centered as I face whatever needs done. (At least that's the plan.)

[BellaG]

As a child and young adult I was the master at big, complicated and creative projects and finishing them to boot.

Not sure if it is connected, but starting at the time I went through peri-menopause I lost that talent. Here I am 15+ years later, taking hormone supplements and you can still count me in on the "me-too's" of dealing with a focusing challenge and finishing projects, let alone bothering to start them anymore. I don't remember my grandparents ever complaining about this. It does seem to be a sign of the times.

My best time for clarity is when I wake in the morning. I like to listen to the Music Soundscapes channel and do some yoga as I calm the mind before starting the day. I follow it with a walk that I am usually extreme mindful during. It is a wonderful opportunity to parlay the mindfulness into gratefulness. For instance, I love the dance of the morning sun dappling through the leaves on the trees, the sound of the birds' morning songs and the gentle breezes against my skin. So I guess that would be a mindfulness home-run?

The irony about "mindfulness" is that it takes focus and concentration to accomplish it! I guess practice makes perfect...

[PartTimeBrewer]

You sound like my mirror image. Morning, I am at my sharpest. By late afternoon, early evening I can't think. I start the day with my Tai Chi Chih routine, set to Soundscapes. Then there is the nature walk. Finally I research my daily contribution to this thread.

[PartTimeBrewer]

I started my mindfulness practice due to frustration over an increasingly shortened attention span. Like any discipline, it takes practice to improve. As said by Woody Hayes, "Anything easy ain't worth a damn!"

[PartTimeBrewer]

Here's a conundrum I find in the Mindfulness literature. If our focus is entirely in the present with no thoughts of past or future, how can we learn from past mistakes or avoid drifting along a path of least resistance? This is just escapism. While it may be a pleasant, maybe necessary place to visit now and then, it is probably not where most of us should try to live (unless you want to 'chuck it all' and become a vagabond monk.)  The trick is to become disciplined enough to be able to sample your past experiences without regret or attachment and plot a path to the future without worry. Easier said than done. This discipline comes from practice. Practice daily on your time schedule. Waiting for a crises to execute something you read about is like competing in an athletic event without preparing for it before game time.