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]

On the benefits of assuming a child-like perspective:

"The child does not assume, does not live in the future, does not cling to the past. The child has no illusion of control, no investment in an identity. The child embodies present-moment awareness, completely alive and open to whatever is going on."  ~  Cheri Huber

[PartTimeBrewer]

I get her point, but maybe she hasn't met my two year old granddaughter.

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Whatever we are experiencing at any moment does not have to be resisted or improved or analyzed. It is possible simply to open oneself to whatever is here. If we are not as happy as we would like to be, we simply notice that. Then we have a chance to find out what it is like for a human being to have that experience. That is very different from assuming that something is wrong."  ~  Cheri Huber

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Which is worse? The thing that's happening or the story you're telling yourself about it?"  ~  Everyday  Mindfulness

[PartTimeBrewer]

"See if you can observe the moment without the running narrative in your mind - you don’t need it." ~ The Mindfulness Project

[PartTimeBrewer]

"You can look all over the world, the Buddha said, and find no one more deserving of love than yourself. And in the moment of truly loving ourselves, there is nothing separate from or outside that love." ~ Cheri Huber

[PartTimeBrewer]

"You will not solve lack by getting more. You will solve lack by recognizing abundance where you once saw lack." ~ Alan Cohen

[Westerly_2]

Thumbs up!

[PartTimeBrewer]

"I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness - it's right in front of me if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude." ~ Brene Brown

[PartTimeBrewer]

A lion chased me up a tree, and I greatly enjoyed the view from the top. - Confucius

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Freedom is being you without anyone's permission." ~ anon.

[PartTimeBrewer]

That's all fine and dandy, but sometimes I feel splintered into multiple editions of myself and find it hard to peal off layers of social conditioning in order to identify what is authentically me. This is where self-awareness comes in. The willingness to suspend judgement and step outside of the incessant stream of unexamined thoughts and feelings that clutter my brainscape.