Hello

I think of mindfulness as a concept that includes spirit, mind, and body responses integrated with information to guide our actions and cognitions.

Mindfulness is best developed through love, compassion and clarity.  This is what I call the Path to Grace.

Our minds are full with a focus on perception, attention, perspective, and intention.  These are the foci that allow us to see in 3-d – giving space for figure/ground and paradigm shifting.

Intuition provides a blink response. A cue that there is something wrong or right.  It allows for us to integrate our observations of our sensing system with our knowledge to guide us.  The blink quality may allow for this integration to come to us as a whole and in an instant.

Anger and fear are not blink responses they are triggers – it may be a trigger to alert us that there is someone crossing our boundaries like an internal sensing alarm system.  Or they may be emotional triggers to survivor scenarios.

Feeling sorry for oneself seems to be in this later category.  This is how depression can erode at our being in an insidious way.

If you find yourself feeling defensive, angry or feeling poor me, to avoid an error in course you can have an internal note to yourself, as well as an external one, to remind you these emotions may be more of a habit reaction pattern than an accurate assessment of something happening in the present moment.  

Mind – fullness is a concept of utilizing one’s emotional sensory guidance system, and physical sensing system and the Full capacity of our cognitive and problem solving skills to evaluate situations and experiences in order to create and guide our way.

Meditation is a very useful tool to develop a sense of centeredness and to allow for mind-fullness.

One of the most useful forms of meditation to help develop this skill is actually a meditation on emptiness.  Isn’t that fascinating?  In order to allow for mind-fullness we have to develop our capacity to be with emptiness.

This meditation is wonderful and can increase peacefulness.  You begin with a comfortable sitting position either on the floor or in  a chair.  You begin with breath.  Breathing in and breathing out.

Just breathing in and breathing out.  As you allow the breath to come in, notice it and as you allow the breath to go out, notice it.  Here’s how it looks to me – I use breath, some use a mantra as a focal point:

Follow breath–Attention, awareness, calm, flow—–>———->distraction –-attention, rumination,worry, spin-out——>-important awareness, observation ——->Redirection, Re-orient attention —–with attitude of kindness, compassion, curiosity,—–>Follow breath--Attention, awareness, calm, flow—–> —— > ——- —->— ———–>distraction-——attention, rumination, worry, spin-out——>-important awareness, observation—> ——–>Redirection, Re-orient attention –—-with attitude of kindness, compassion, curiosity ————> ————->Follow Breath….. and it continues until breath is all

You can do this for a few minutes at first and then as you become more comfortable with the process you can increase this to ten minute several times a day.

I also like to use much shorter sessions of focused breathing to help me find my center when I am spun out by conflict or intense, difficult interactions –  just 30 or 60 seconds of breathing in, and breathing out – just breathing in, breathing out – allows for the space to get to mind-fullness to allow for a neutral compassionate style of being in the world.

I have taught this to my daughter to help her deal with her intense emotions.

It has been a wonderful tool for her, especially when she wants to get re-centered.  She experiences this tool as empowering.

I encourage you to try this exercise and practice it for a few days.  Notice how you feel after the exercise.  Notice if the triggers seem to have less effect after this exercise.

There is all sorts of evidence that this kind of meditation can reduce anxiety and one’s blood pressure.  Notice for yourself what happens.  I think you may find it useful in our fast-paced, multi-tasking culture.

See you tomorrow.

Beth