Best Life Tips

Look with Wonder

This Valentines Day I was thinking about the love of my life and how all too often I can be relating to a projection of my wife based on past experiences and miss out seeing her in that very moment.

The article below offers an explanation about how we can see from what Zen calls "beginners mind"

Read "A Sunset Mode of Mind"

 

In the Classroom, a New Focus on Quieting the Mind - New York Times

Mindfulness, while common in hospitals, corporations, professional sports and even prisons, is relatively new in the education of squirming children. But a small but growing number of schools in places like Oakland and Lancaster, Pa., are slowly embracing the concept — as they did yoga five years ago — and institutions, like the psychology department at Stanford University and the Mindfulness Awareness Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, are trying to measure the effects.

Link: In the Classroom, a New Focus on Quieting the Mind - New York Times.

Trapped inside our minds

Link: Trapped inside our minds.

Saying a sunset is beautiful instead of just enjoying it, sitting in a traffic jam willing cars to move, or continuing to read a book long after losing interest in it are all examples of what Andre Kukla sees as the "mental traps" that undermine enjoyment and sap productivity in modern-day living.

The Spacious Heart

Though your heart may feel small, it is spacious beyond the mind's imagination.

The spaciousness of the heart can hold the suffering of the world.

--Ezra Bayda with Josh Bartok in Saying Yes to Life (Even to the Hard Parts)
from More Daily Wisdom, edited by Josh Bartok,

The Hallmark of the Enlightenment Process

The hallmark of the enlightenment process is in being "here" and not "there." Indeed, the focal point of continuity is in being here at all times. The famous message of Ram Dass to "Be here now" is what results when one is adept in this practice. It is laborious in that it requires great perseverance--we are up against lifelong patterns--but it is a major enlightenment practice because it can break through our basic conditioning. The secret of success in continuity practice is to eliminate any sense of failure. From the moment we begin, we are successful. The only measure of success is this moment, right now. Are we here? If we are here, our practice is perfect. The fact that we have just returned from out yonder, or that we might take off again in a few seconds, is not relevant. Without this practice, we would always be spaced out. We would rarely experience being here. Thus, each moment we are able to break the pattern, we have succeeded.

--David A. Cooper, in Silence, Simplicity and Solitude
from Everyday Mind

Surviving Emotions

It's not by accident that at this moment in our history, acceptance, mindfulness and values are attracting more attention as ways to approach human emotions. People sense that a middle path is needed between indulgence and suppression.

Link: Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/17/2006 | Surviving emotions.

6 ways to make ‘me-time’ meaningful

Everywhere we go, pagers are beeping, cell phones are ringing and computers are dinging with incoming e-mail.

Are these comforting signs that our networks of family, friends and co-workers are in good working order? Or are they alarms warning us of yet more demands on our time and energy?

To create meaningful moments of solitude, try these six tips:

Click here: 6 ways to make ‘me-time’ meaningful.

ADT & the catch-and-release distraction program | 43 Folders

Link: ADT & the catch-and-release distraction program | 43 Folders.

Mindfulness exercise: The catch-and-release distraction program

Spend one workday hour today or tomorrow self-consciously aware of each single task you’re working on at a given time (try it: I’ll bet it’s a lot harder for you than it sounds).

Treat that task with a combination of relaxation, reverence, and the quiet awareness that, at least for the time that it’s earned your attention, this is the single most important thing in the world. When you notice yourself half-assing, be aware of it, and allow your mind to gently turn back to focus.

As you stay focused on doing one valuable thing at a time, notice and mentally acknowledge all the times that you feel yourself being drawn to something else. Listen for the times that your mind pokes at you to tear ass over to email or your RSS reader, and just let the thought pass by, ungrasped. Hear the shrill ringy-dingy of your phone, but resist the urge to grab it before it goes to voice mail. Don’t dwell on distractions; just note them, and let them go.

Just one hour. You can do it.

For bonus credit, when that hour is up, jot down 2-3 interruptions you think might deserve less attention than you’ve been allowing them. Assuming you wanted to turn down the volume and recapture more mindful attention, where could you cut fat and never miss it?

Why can't you pay attention anymore?

It may be the greatest irony of the information age. All of that data flying at you by e-mail, instant message, cell phone, voice mail and BlackBerry--it could actually be making you dumber.

Link: Why can't you pay attention anymore? | Newsmakers | CNET News.com.

Mindfulness Meditation

Its Role in Health Care and Medicine

Mindfulness-based stress reduction is a powerful approach to self-care, participatory medicine, patient education and effective coping with stress, pain and illness. It provides a framework for catalyzing inner and outer learning about one's own mind and body, one's relationship to the world and one's place in it.

Link: Mindfulness Meditation: Its Role in Health Care and Medicine.