“We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends, and living our lives.” — Maya Angelou
Category: Mindfulness
Remember to Stop and Smell the Roses (or Sunflowers)!
Just a friendly reminder to take a moment to stop and take in what’s around you :). This doesn’t have to be limited to pleasant or unpleasant times/experiences/etc. and can be done at any time — the train ride home, the walk to your front door, your desk at work, a walk to get lunch, a walk outside, a sunset, … the list goes on and on.
A related article — 7 Reasons You Should Make Time For The Sunset
“There is something inherently powerful and spiritual about sunsets, and we can benefit from incorporating such experiences into a regular ritual.”
Mindful Magazine
Apparently there is a magazine titled “mindful“. There is a free excerpt from this month’s featured article, “The Medicine of the Moment“, along with other free article excerpts.
One important section from “The Medicine of the Moment” reads:
“while mindfulness has grown in popularity and acceptability … the very fact of popularity has a notorious way of trivializing something and reducing its credibility … in the rush to respond to the demand for something that promises some relief from suffering … overpromotion inevitably ensues… ”
“… a recent paper by a group of 15 researchers called for a halt to extravagant claims surrounding mindfulness, citing a need for more careful definitions of exactly what mindfulness is when it is studied, more rigorous clinical studies, and a check on media reports and advertising of mindfulness as a virtual cure-all.”
Not just for tough times…
From How Busy People Meditate Every Day written by Drew Long:
Arnold Schwarzenegger describes how he began meditating during a time in his life when everything was going right. He was preparing for a bodybuilding competition, buying real estate, filming a movie, filming a documentary, and
“everything was clustered into one big problem, rather than separating it out into having calm, peace and being happy.”
Arnold says he started meditating and “I saw the effect right away.” He continued to do [transcendental] meditation for about a year:
Even today, I still benefit from that, I don’t merge and bring things together, I don’t see it as one big problem, I take on one challenge at a time. I do one thing at a time.
– Arnold Schwarzenegger
Past, Future, or Present?
It is often easy to find oneself so caught up in the past or future that we miss the present. All we have is this moment. Acknowledging this and/or letting go of judgement can be liberating.
“Mindful and creative, a child who has neither a past, nor examples to follow, nor value judgments, simply lives, speaks and plays in freedom.” — Arnaud Desjardins
Michele L. Silverstein, Ph.D. 