My experience in teaching Mindfulness Courses is that sometimes people need the self support that Mindful Self Compassion gives. Mindfulness asks us to be open and accepting of whatever is there, even pain, discomfort and difficulty but sometimes the fear is very strong (more…)
Mindfulness is here to stay. No longer an ‘alternative’ activity, ordinary people are seeking out mindfulness as an antidote to stress, anxiety, ‘racing mind’, technology overload, disengagement and the meaninglessness of life and reporting their experience to be ‘life transforming’. (more…)
We can be mindful at any moment of our day
We can be mindful at any moment of our day – when we brush our teeth or wash our hands or have a cup of tea… The remembering is what is important. It can be helpful to choose one or more activities to ‘be here for’. It is possible to disengage from our default mode of ‘lost in thought’ by taking a conscious breath and opening to our sense perceptions…
Mindful walking is an opportunity to engage with all our senses and appreciate the wonder of life
Mindful walking is an opportunity to look around and see how wondrous life is and delight in all of our senses – feeling the caress of the breeze, the warmth of the sun, noticing light and shadow, hearing the song of a bird, people laughing together, smelling and tasting what is there…
Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved, all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness, you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say it is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you every where like a shadow or a friend.
Sometimes, you need the ocean light, and colours you’ve never seen before
painted through an evening sky.
Sometimes you need your God to be a simple invitation,
not a telling word of wisdom.
Sometimes you need only the first shyness that comes from being shown things
far beyond your understanding,
so that you can fly and become free
by being still and by being still here.
And then there are times you need to be brought to ground by touch
and touch alone.
To know those arms around you
and to make your home in the world.
just by being wanted.
To see those eyes looking back at you, as eyes should see you at last,
seeing you, as you always wanted to be seen, seeing you, as you yourself
had always wanted to see the world.
In out of the way places of the heart
Where your thoughts never think to wander
This beginning has been quietly forming
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire
Feeling the emptiness grow inside you
Noticing how you willed yourself on
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
About 47% of waking hours spent thinking about what isn’t going on
Alan Watts speaks about the tendency of our ‘monkey mind’ towards compulsive thinking, worrying, distraction and how Meditation leads to a progressive quietening of the mind.
Isn’t it wonderful to read in today’s Irish Independent that ‘Mindfulness’ will be part of the new Junior Cycle programme available to schools from this September? (more…)
Practicing mindfulness sounds simple but, of course, it’s not because it goes against the grain of how we have been socialised to think and function.
Instead of striving to get things done, always rushing to spot and fix problems, mindfulness is (more…)
Beautiful interview, deep and powerful. Oprah Winfrey talks to Thich Nhat Hanh about becoming a monk, meeting Martin Luther King Jr, the powers of mindfulness and compassion in everyday life, deep compassionate listening; how to transform and heal conflict and learn from suffering; insight. Jesus and the bible also teach us to be present and aware right now. How to deeply transform relationships with Mindfulness.
How do you normally react to stress at work /home, challenges in relationships, or any other difficulties you encounter in day to day life? Do you ever blame yourself when things go wrong or you make a mistake?
“What wrong with me? How do I always make a mess of situations? What a disaster!” (more…)
Some of the world’s most successful companies are investing in mindfulness training for their employees to help them deal better with stress and workplace challenges. Why?
Compassion is the most transforming energy in the universe with all the ingredients that everyone longs for; the embodiment of kindness, of caring, of loving. It is a skill that can be enhanced with practise, it’s not impractical or touchy-feely but a courageous state of mind and heart, (more…)
This is a question I am often asked by people who come to my site so probably a good idea to answer it.
Firstly, lets just be clear about what we mean by Mindfulness anyway? The most commonly accepted definition is that of Jon Kabat Zinn,: “Paying attention, on purpose in the present moment without making judgements.” (more…)
I love Jon Kabat Zinn’s description of mindfulness as … Living Your Life As If It Really Matters… and that means really being here for it, with Awareness and with a certain degree of self kindness towards oneself and with an understanding of the deep inter-connectedness of all life and of all being. (more…)
On retreat and training in the USA, I am kept company by John O’Donohue, who said about solo travelers:
“When you cease to fear your solitude, a new creativity awakens in you. Your forgotten or neglected wealth begins to reveal itself. (more…)