Posts Tagged ‘Mindfulness’

Posted on July 16, 2009 - by Jus

102 | Commitments and Action

So today’s class was part two of Commitment vs Trying.  What became clear to me is that I will be able to identify what my clients are commited to not by their words, but by their actions.  It is very easy for us all to say the ‘right’ thing… “I’m commited to spending more time with my kids” or “I’m commited to living a healthier lifestyle” – but if I am working ridiculous hours and I’m buying junk food every time I am at the store – am I really commited, or am I just trying?

The class today threw down the gauntlet – remove the word TRY from your vocabulary.  Wow, how powerful is that?  No more “I’ll try to do…” or “I’ll try to be…” – instead commit to the solution or the goal.  Say “I will be…” or “I am going to do…”

Ultimately we all have a choice in what we decide to commit ourselves to.  For me, I am commited to finishing my course by June 2010.  The next step is to support myself in that commitment, support myself in driving the action that is required for that commitment.  For me, that was creating a Google calendar that I can see all the class timetables at a glance in my own time zone.  It is diarising the dates and times that I think will work with my work & family schedule and making the time to do these, and being prepared for the classes also.

For other people, the support or structure required to honor a commitment might be:

Commitment : “I will exercise four times a week”
Problem : “I dislike exercise”
Opportunity : “I enjoy being around people”
Structure to support action in commitment?  Start a running group with friends so that exercise becomes a social activity.

Commitment : “I will spend more time with my kids”
Problem : “I am always so distracted, I find it hard to focus on my kids”
Opportunity : “My kids appreciate even the smallest amount on undivided one-on-one attention”
Structure to support action in commitment? Allocate 10 minutes per day in which I play a ‘game’ with my child, without any distractions.

Being commited and creating structures for yourself to honor that commitment is a very mindful way to approach life.  I really enjoyed the class today and I’m looking forward to the next one!

Posted on July 4, 2009 - by Jus

Meditation & Me

Several years ago I was given a book that introduced me to many of the teachings of the Buddha – prior to this I had always remained relatively disinterested in all types of ‘organised religion’ or faith. I think the main reason for this was the alarming degree of contradiction that I have found, not always necessarily in the religions themselves, but in the people that claim to lead their lives by them.

For this reason, it took me a long time to acknowledge to anyone that I consider myself Buddhist. While I agree with many of the teachings of Buddha (I have many more to learn) and try to incorporate these into the way I view and approach life, I am not at all disciplined with it (even though I would like to be). Because of this, I think I probably fall into the aforementioned “contradiction” definition, so I often keep my faith to myself.

However, it’s something I am striving to change. I want to learn more, understand and infuse my life with more of Buddha’s teachings. Meditation is something I need to make time for each day. It helped me so much through a rough time in my life a few years ago, and I don’t want it to become something I only fall back on in times of sadness.

I try to remind myself each day with a few little things, one of which is a blog called A Buddhist Perspective.  I find that reading heavy texts about Buddism can sometimes be difficult and hard to simplify for a busy lifestyle.  But this blog gives me great insights and new, simple, unique ways of increasing the impact my faith has on myself and others.

We classify giving into three kinds. We can give material resources such as food or money, as well as personal resources such as our time or energy.  Secondly, we can give teachings to enable those who wish to learn to improve their lives on a daily basis or, on a more spiritual level, to find lasting happiness through understanding universal truths.  And lastly, we can give courage: by giving our strength, stability, and understanding, we can relieve others’ worries and fears. And sometimes a smile is all they need. <<link>>

Sounds simple, right? I often have trouble balancing the demands placed on me. It’s easy to become insular and self-involved when things aren’t quite right in ones life.  But taking a step back and gaining perspective can sometimes be all I need to take the edge off… and a smile from a friend doesn’t hurt either!

At the Culver Academy yesterday, we did a very simple meditation that anyone, regardless of their faith tradition, can do.

After settling into a meditation position that is comfortable for you, breathe in thinking “May I be happy.”  Then, breathe out while thinking “May all beings be happy.”

That’s it!

First we take in happiness for ourselves. But we keep that happiness for the briefest of moments, and then we turn around and give it to all beings.  So the happiness we create, we immediately share with everyone.  The in-breath creates some tension as our diaphragm pulls air into our lungs on our thought of personal happiness.  The out-breath releases the tension as we release the happiness with the thought that it will benefit all beings.  <<link>>

This is possibly the most helpful explanation of applied meditation that I have come across.  It’s simple, and it works.

I’d like to find more blogs or texts like this – so if you know of one, please leave me a comment!