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 ad says, “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” Zen says: She’s born with it." ~ Philip Toshio Sudo

[Jozee]

"Suffering usually relates to wanting things to be different than they are." - Allan Lokos

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Mindfulness isn't something that has to be done in a special place. That uncomfortable point where your mind rubs up against the world is the best place to practice mindfulness." ~ Haemin Sunim

[PartTimeBrewer]

"A priest once quoted to me the Roman saying that a religion is dead when the priests laugh at each other across the altar. I always laugh at the altar, be it Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist, because real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter". —Alan Wilson Watts

[PartTimeBrewer]

"In the quilt of life, praise and criticism, pleasure and pain, winning and losing, joy and sadness are woven together as one."  ~  Haemin Sunim

[PartTimeBrewer]

Query your watch for the time. If the answer is other than "NOW", maybe it's not so Smart as you think.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition." —José Bergamín

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith." —Paul Tillich

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it has been tested." —Pi Patel, Life of Pi

[Jozee]

"Few of us ever life in the present. We are forever anticipating what is to come or remembering what has gone." - Louis L'Amour

[PartTimeBrewer]

"We so easily forget what is most important. We’re often living our lives on autopilot, going through the motions, without truly knowing why we’re doing what we’re doing."
Everyday Mindfulness

[PartTimeBrewer]

"The wise recognize the limits of their knowledge; the foolish think they know everything." ~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, no. 71