Our feelings are guides that help us through the world. Fear guides us to safety. Anger guides us to correct things that aren’t working. Caring pulls us towards connections. Emotions are useful when they occur in not overwhelming doses. And difficult. We lose our cool and yell. We lie awake worrying. Most importantly, when we […]
Mindfulness is a non judging, receptive awareness. Unfortunately, most of the time we don’t pay attention in this way. Instead we react, judging wether we like, dislike or can ignore what is happening. We measure our experience against expectation, We evaluate ourselves and others with a stream of commentary and criticism. When people initially […]
Truth, beauty, and goodness delights us. We can rejoice in them. Mindfulness does not have to be all about reducing stress. It can also be about tuning in to wonder and joy, appreciating the beautiful things in life. Mindfulness is derived from Buddhism. While I do not purport to be teaching Buddhism, sometimes […]
Mindfulness is a common English word that means paying attention. When we talk about being mindful, it is paying full attention to the present moment with an open and curious attitude. It is being aware of where we are and what we are doing without judging it. “The present moment is filled with joy […]
Becoming Our Own Friend Befriending is an important quality of mindfulness. This is different than self compassion. Self compassion is used to ease our difficulties that have already arisen. When we make a mistakes when something doesn’t go our way. When we are sufferring, we are instructed to use self compassion, to soothe ourselves. To […]
The body feels before the mind reacts. Then we attach a feeling only after the body/mind has started its reaction. Embodiment allows us to sense thoughts and emotions as they are arising, before we begin to react. Feeling subtle contraction and shifts in the body allows a response instead of a reaction. As we […]
Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose to the present moment, with an attitude of openness and curiosity. So many things we do out of habit. We get into habits and experience life mindlessly. Eating is a great place to infuse mindfulness. There are many benefits to mindful eating. We enjoy our food more. We […]