Mind-full? Mind-less!

Mind ripples.

This has been a month where returning to mindfulness practices and meditation has been refreshing and oh so invaluable for me. Meditation is a form of exercise for the brain and it is a power tool that literally creates new places 'to sit' in the mind.  

Imagine that your mind is your living room, family room, kitchen or bedroom.  Notice the furniture.  Where are the places to sit and rest, perchance to dream?  Is this a comfortable place - a place where you can just be present?  Or are there lots of distractions.  Have you ended up in the garage?  Or the overflowing spare bedroom heaped with clutter?  

Just like we all desire a place to just BE in our homes, mindfulness practices literally creates a meditation sanctuary in our own mind.  

Now, a re-minder.  Rome wasn't built in a day.  Being mind-full, mind-less increases with practice, even a little practice.  A few moments each day will begin the creation of that new flexible-mind chair.  

I have created a sample list of exercises from some wise folks in this field.  I have a resource list below that I call the Big Idea Books.  Highly recommended reading!

Give the list a try.  

I have.

This was my old mind chair.

Mary's sad and worm out "Thinking Chair"

And this is my new one.

Mary's Technicolor Dream Chair

10 Tips To Try

Here are 10 tips culled from a variety of mind, body and spirit sources.  Pick from the list, find a favorite or try one a day for a week and notice how you feel at the end of the 10 weeks.  See which ones remain as part of your daily dose of mind-full? mind-less? experiences.  See if you don’t have a calmer, more peaceful mind…one moment at a time.

1.     Practice mindfulness when the phone rings, the doorbell, the text message or the IM on Facebook. Notice – does your response time have to be so fast (to answer the phone, the doorbell, the text, the Facebook message) that it pulls you out of the life you were living the moment before?  Great question – notice the response.

2.    Tune into your breathe when you find yourself lying down.  Feel it all through your body, feet, legs, stomach, chest, shoulders, neck and head.  Move awareness to organs, skin, and then to cells and feel it all the way through each part of yourself.

3.    Walk mindfully where every step is a miracle.  It is a gift to be able to walk.  Be aware of this simple step.

4.    Let things be as they are.  “The next time you feel a sense of dissatisfaction, of something missing or not quite right, be aware of the energy in that moment.  Stay present instead of the myriad of ways there are to distract yourself. If only for a moment, stop and breathe and notice how things are at that moment.  Don’t even think to yourself I’m going inward not.  Just sit.  Let things be as they are.”  (This tip to try comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn and Wherever You Go, There You Are.)

5.    Red light rest.  The next time you pull up to a red light; treat as if a light bulb has lit up your mind. This is your cue to ‘breathe in, breathe out and smile.’  Notice what feelings come with this time-out.  A whole new way to experience being randomly stopped by life to rest and renew.  All at a traffic light!

6.    Bells are “b”-ringing…awareness.  Whenever you hear a bell ring, a gong, a wind chime or other ‘bell’ this is a call to bring awareness back to the present moment;  the present experience - softly, gently, easily.

7.    In and Out. (Not the Burger!)  This simple focus and awareness exercise erases the past and future.  All the focus shifts when you say ‘in’ when you inhale and ‘out’ when you exhale.  Try this exercise for as little as 30 seconds and build up from there.  Notice how your mood and energy shifts.  You can add a variation and with each in set the intention to breathe in new thoughts, ideas, energy, health and inspiration and on the out the intention to release old and painful thoughts, ideas, energy, illness and exhaustion.  A ‘fuel’ with less calories than a burger!

8.    Repeat this phrase.  This is an exercise inspired by Eckhart Tolle author of The Power of Now in his book Stillness Speaks.  Repeat the following phrase:  “The opposite of life is not death.  The opposite of death is birth.  Life has no opposite.”  The repetition of certain words, sounds and phrases is in essence a mantra, (an often repeated word, formula, or phrase, often a truism).  Try this simple phrase of choice other mantras that create a new mindset or brainwave pattern.  This is a very relaxing and simple practice.

9.    Follow the beat…heartbeat.  Our heart beats in every part of our body through our pulses.  It is our bodies own natural rhythm.  Begin at the feet and notice the pulse in your ankles.  Once you can feel the pulse, move your awareness up and feel the pulse behind your knees, the small of your back, in your chest, your neck your temples and down your arms to your wrists and then send the pulse out through your fingers and start the cycle again.  Notice where else you can feel or detect the pulse in your body.  You can add a variation and begin to listen to the heartbeat or pulse in other people, animals, trees, the earth.  This is a great exercise to support interconnection and awareness.

10.  Perspective.  This one is from Martha Beck and her new book Finding Your Way In A Wild New World.

Ø  Sit, stand or lie still and focus your eyes sharply on an object in front of you.

Ø  Without moving your eyes, broaden your attention until it registers everything in your field of vision, including the original object of focus.

Ø  Now, still without moving your eyes at all, make the object the foreground of your attention, and everything else the background.

Ø  Next, make the object the background and everything else the foreground

Ø  Focus on everything in your visual field at once while repeating this yoga slogan” “Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, all things are equal.”

Ø  If you want to kick it up a notch, repeat this question. “Can I imagine the space inside the distance between my eyes?”  Les Fehmi, a Princeton researcher, discovered that this question pulls the brain straight into a ‘synchronous alpha’ wave pattern, a deeply relaxed, Wordless state.

Big Idea Books

Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh

Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Arriving At Your Own Door: 108 Lessons in Mindfulness

Jon Kabat-Zinn

The End of Your World by Adyashanti

The Power of Now by Ekhart Tolle

Fully Present by Susan Smalley and Diane Winton

Improv Wisdom by Patricia Ryan Madson

The Wonder Wheel - A Date With Destiny

The Archetypal Wheel is an intuitive tool that makes symbolic information accessible to you.  Your 12 archetypes become even more significant when you observe them at work in the houses that signify 12 different aspects of your life.  Like other intuitive tools,  the Wheel helps you decode the behind-the-scenes patterns of your life.  It shows you how your experiences and relationships are spiritual dramas filled with opportunities for personal transformation.

— Caroline Myss, from myss.com

I have a date with Destiny.

I attended a wonderful annual intentions workshop with Denise Brouillette at http://www.denisebrouillette.com/ in January.  The focus of the workshop was to create a personal theme for 2012. This was my first year attending the workshop which Denise, an executive coach in the Bay Area,  has been hosting for several years.  It was a wonderful workshop and a day of insights.  I emerged from the day with the theme:  2012 is the year to feel my destiny.

Interestingly enough, I had already planned to spend the year using another of Caroline Myss's amazing tools, what I have fondly dubbed The Wonder Wheel.  An Archetypal Wheel is a means to uncover and explore the idea of my personal destiny.  The theme of this wheel is Fate and Destiny.  This wheel is described as  "Fate is ruled by the choices of the ego,  Destiny by the higher influences of your soul - action motivated by illuminated choices."

Light up the sky choices.

Wake-up and smell the coffee choices.

Be stretched like a rubber band choices.

Notice that each of these ends with choice...enlightened, awake and aware choices.  Some simple, some scary, some down right OMG choices.

Each house has a focus which you will read about below and a bit about the concept and idea of a Sacred Contract. The idea of a sacred contract showed up for me years ago, but I wouldn't have use that language or articulated the concept.  However, it has been present over the years and in 2006 I was introduced to Caroline's books and her words rang within me like an ancient gong.  I spent 2006 casting my Natal/Birth Sacred Contract and six years later, I am excited to explore this new set of archetypes and energies through the Fate - Destiny Wheel.  

I am working with a coach and consultant each month to set up the ideas and energies for that house.  Then, almost like a pair of glasses or the feel of the merry-go-round, I experience my life, actions, thoughts and feelings through this lens. I will share insights, thoughts and feelings on the blog connected to my chart, archetypes, discoveries, experiences and feelings during the days and months ahead.  

I will post about January and February in a separate post.

Here is some additional information about the houses and the Wheel.  

The twelve houses of the Archetypal Wheel are divided as follows:

1. Personality, Ego: the face you present to the outside world
2. Life Values: ownership, finances, your relationship to earthly power
3. Self-expression, Siblings: the power of choice
4. Home: establishing your emotional foundation
5. Creativity, Good Fortune: erotic energies, including creativity, sexuality, and synchronicity/chance
6. Occupation and Health: seeking security in the physical world
7. Relationships: marriage and partnerships
8. Other People’s Resources: stocks, inheritance, death and closure
9. Spirituality: wisdom, publishing, travel
10. Highest Potential: completing the integration of the self
11. Interaction with the World: relating your creativity to humanity
12. The Unconscious

The three levels of Chronos, Kairos, and Cosmic within the wheel represent different ways of experiencing time and space.

The Chronos “realm” contains our everyday understanding of physical time and space—minutes, hours, days, years—and it’s what carries the most weight in ones psyche.  This is where our history lives.  Things are static and happen very slowly.  The archetypes here are the ones we were born with.  They can move around between the different houses, but it’s always those primary 12 you’ll find in Chronos because they are the ones that are always with you.

The Kairos is present time, the here and now.  In Greek, the word means “the right or opportune moment.”  This is where choice lives.  In this model, the archetypes in the Kairos are chosen consciously because we can sense the energy of them as something that we are either experiencing now or could call upon to help us in the present.  For example, I may not be born with the Engineer archetype, but if I were to find myself stranded on a deserted island, it would serve me to enlist the help of the Engineer in that moment to help me to build myself a shelter or a raft.

The Cosmic is the realm of timeless time and spaceless space.  It’s the realm of heaven and endless possibilities, where spontaneous healing and “miracles” occur.  It is not bound by any physical laws of time and space.  It’s where guidance lives, and grace.  The archetypes that land here are chosen blindly and viewed as divinely selected soul companions to inspire and assist you on your journey.

It is only February 22, but it has been an amazing experience so far.  Quite frankly, January felt magical and February, thus far, has kicked my ass!  I will share more about this in the next post.  Stay tuned...the fact that I even said ass kicking will shock and delight my friends!  See, it is my destiny to use the occasional swear word or fun shocking phrases.  A whole new world is opening up for me.  

Questions, comments, curious?

Ask, ask, ask.

Do you have a date with destiny?  I'm listening.

Agape Day!

Agape love, which the Greeks defined as unconditional giving, is the kind of love I want to highlight today.  Start with the simpliest and bravest act of love there is...yourself.  Really feel how you are loved...really loved.  This is the love that overflows through each of us in the best of times and in the worst of times.  This is the kind of love my mother talks about when she says, 'love comes back for everything.'  I love that...I agape that!  


So, this is my simple, sweet Agape Day post to send this love out into the world.  This beautiful, sweet, natural love in honor of Valentine's Day.


Here's to all the special ways to love all the animal, vegetable, miracles in our lives.


With an open heart today,
Namaste,
Mary

Inspiration

inspiration

n

...the act or process of inhaling; breathing in

I was researching the topic of mindfulness for my Meet-Up tomorrow night (come on by) and I was looking for a quote to put on the worksheet.  Needless to say, I found an amazing array.  As I read each one, it became its own meditative experience.  I felt a sense a shift from thinking to feeling as I read through the quotes.  Some I met with curiosity, others - a knowing, and still others with a deep wellness as I read page after page.  It then occurred to me that this act in itself is a simple and practical tool for centering the mind and nourishing the heart.   So, I have posted five inspirational quotes below.  Let's use reading the quotes as a mind-full? mind-less! exercise. Mind - full?  Ah, such a common experience.  Here is a quick, simple and fun way to focus, relax and be inspired.  Mind your mind. 1.  Breathe.  Feel your breathe.  Hear your breathe.  See your breathe. Relax and let the breathe settle you in your body.  Notice how your body feels as it is breathing. 2.  Read through the quotes.   You are free to read through all five quotes and return to read again or read one at a time. Notice where your attention is as you read each one.  Did you notice a shift in your observations when you read through the quote the second time? Did you find your mind wandering?  If so, gently re-focus on experiencing each of the quotes. 3. Be the observer.  Did you feel something as you read the quote?  If so, where in your body did you notice this feeling?  Did you find that you were inspired by the quote and if so, where did this inspiration take you?  What thoughts, ideas, images, places did you go and what did each place feel like, what mood did it evoke? 4. Breathe the quote - Be the quote.  Imagine the words as a fragrance that you are inhaling, and notice what fragrance accompanies the quote.  This is a powerful experience to bypass the cognitive mind and our sense of smell evokes powerful memories and feelings that can be deeply relaxing and restful.  5.  Reflect and release.  Let the words fall away and move into your day.  Notice where you have become the quote in actions, thoughts or experiences in the following hours and days. How did it feel to breathe in words; to smell the images and paint pictures in your heart?

The following quotes are from Good Reads at www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/mindfulness.  Here are the five for today.

“In the end, just three things matter: 

How well we have lived 
How well we have loved 
How well we have learned to let go” 

― Jack Kornfield

“We too should make ourselves empty, that the great soul of the universe may fill us with its breath.” 

― Lawrence Binyon

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” 

― Thich Nhat Hanh

“Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).” 

― James Baraz

“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” 
― Pema Chödrön

Share your inspirational quotes or your experience with this quick and simple way to shift from the thinking mind to the experiential self.  

Brava!