Monday 18th October 2010

Are you optimistic, pessimistic or realistic?

It is said an optimistic person sees a glass half full and a pessimistic one sees it half empty.  Which one has the right view?  Well, maybe both or maybe neither it tends to be quite individual. A realistic person may just say there is glass with a certain amount of water inside it.  A more mathematical mind may say it is 50% water, 50% air, a scientific mind may break it further into gases and/or elements, and so on.

The thing is, it is what it represents to you that is important, the most important thing is to be truthful about what certain aspects of life represent to you and work with your mind as it is.  If you know you look on the more gloomy side of things naturally, don't just sweep those thoughts under the carpet.  Similarly if you are naturally a very optimistic person, that needs to be noticed also, as with any other mind states you notice yourself habitually slipping into.  You don't need to enforce your views on anyone, but just being aware of them can help you grow.

Wednesday 6th October 2010

With a shift in the weather in the UK to wetter conditions this could be a great opportunity to do more formal practise.  Although we should be keeping our mindfulness practise up as much as possible, it is also important to do the formal sessions.  One of my teachers says it is like recharging the batteries on your mobile phone.  You use the phone all day, but at times you need to plug it back in to get the 'juice' back up again.

We need to do the same with our practise.  When its cold and wet outside, you can use this as extra motivation to stay in and do a little more formal practise.  Hopefully this well help establish good habits for later.

10th September 2010

A lot of the sessions people ask for help with tend to revolve around stress.  The world has been slowly switching on to the fact that stress can be a problem.  There are so many ways of  dealing with stress and new ways surfacing almost daily.  We have to remember that stress can be incredibly stimulating and help us to get out of trouble as well as cause us and others around us problems.

  My personal view on stress as I write this is that it is not so much the eradication of stress that is important, but rather our way of managing it.  Mindfulness practise helps us to be aware not only of how the stress may be affecting us, but also how to respond to the affect rather than just habitually react.  Rather than repressing the stress cycle or intentionally creating more stress to 'let it out' (as oppose to just releasing the unwanted stress as it arises) , by developing mindfulness practise the stress can be channeled into a positive outcome rather than a negative or meaningless one.

Wednesday 08 September 2010

Acceptance was the last blog, but today I think I would like to write about responsibility.  Without a sense of responsibility and without taking responsibility for our own actions or non-actions (think about it) then we could also be causing more unhappiness.  The "3 poisons" I mentioned in my last post may be inherent in humans beings (or all life) but that does not mean we have to succumb to it.  The acceptance of these traits is merely for us to not get frustrated and find blame.  We can however try not to act on the impulses when they arise in our self or others.  A great teacher once said that Global Responsibility will never happen until all people can take self-responsibility.  Once the majority of people become self-responsible, then gradually Global Responsibility can emerge.  By training our minds, we are starting our own path to self-responsibility.

Thursday 2 September 2010

Acceptance is one of the most important pieces of the practise, and I have tried to explain my understanding of it, but, as my practise goes on, my understanding deepens, and I hope to share with you my thoughts.  Aside from the cutting away of the ego, it might be best to explain it with as much subject/object as possible so that it is accessable to as many as possible.

I read recently a book by Edward de Bono (the person who originated the term lateral thinking) in it he suggests human beings are naturally agressive and greedy; if we add in ignorant as well we have the classic '3 poisons'.

If we can accept this though, not just about others but about ourselves, life becomes a lot easier.

Please contact me if you would like to discuss this further.

19th August 2010

Mindfulness with an object can seem hard to begin with.  After what might be the honeymoon period of just learning to relax, having to focus can seem like torture.  It is essential however to go through that.  With mindfulness practise we are constantly trying to cut the bonds which bind us.  We are looking for true freedom, true happiness and trying to let go or accept all experiences that arise in the mind. We are trying to respond to our environment more than just react to it.  The focus needed with the use of the object can be transferred to other events which arise and can help us to respond more appropriately.  This in turn should allow us to be happier and spread more happiness. I will talk more about this on another entry, for now though, please try to keep up with your practise.

27th June 2010

Mindfulness is only one small part of the whole picture, even though it can be an almost endless pursuit.  There are so many other factors to develop also.  Some of you may have heard me talking about things such as discipline, patience, generosity, diligence and concentration.  Today I would like to share some thoughts on wisdom.  According to many highly accomplished teachers all these things are needed to develop a completely peaceful mind.  Wisdom has many different aspects, although we tend to think of it as something learnt from a book, there are many other ways of developing it.  Most of us recognise that life itself is wisdom.  Do we actually learn from it though?  One of my teachers always talks about how we walk in circles, mostly habitual events in our life.  We get to the end of the circle (of a negative habit) sometimes in despair wondering why these things happen to us constantly.

  Before we can evaluate it and learn from it though, we get caught up in it again.  Mindfulness gives us some space to evaluate daily (if you have a daily practise).  There are times when we go beyond the breath watching practise alone and integrate reflection.  This is a small part of our effort towards gaining more wisdom.

  Please allow some time today and every day for some mindfulness.

19th June 2010

How often do we go through life only seeing our own version of it?  It is very rare to be able to see your own version, that of those around you and the impact that these different views can have on further events.  Normally this is because we are living our life so fast we do not have enough time to process all the information.  Mindfulness slows things down and gives you space.  The regular practice of mindfulness gives you regular breaks from the the constant barrage of information and sensory input.  This can help us to make more rounded decisions of all the events in our lives and those we interact with.  There might be less times when we mis-understand events around us or when we become confused or over-emotional.  If we feel a situation may be out of our control it is good to just stop for a moment and focus on the breath/senses/present moment without judging for a few moments and see what happens.

2 June 2010

During times of great hardship or stress it can be difficult to not only find time to practise meditation, but also to find peace in our life.  This is why we should try as often as possible to create a mind that can automatically turn to patience.  By cultivating a sense of patience as often as possible in as many situations as possible we can become better at enduring some of the things which upset our mind.  It isn't easy to do, but the more you practise, the more the mind will naturally view all events with calm understanding.  This may help not just the meditation periods, but our overall handling of difficult times.

Wednesday 19 May 2010

Happiness is the true heart of the meditation.  Mindfulness is just one aspect of how we can accomplish a happier state of being.  We try not to stir the pot up to much.  Our thoughts and emotions can be stirred up almost by the second when we have many other things going on around us.  Things to do, places to be, engaging in the host of daily activities we think we have to do.  Although we cannot always give up these things in life, we must maintain a sense of reponsibility, although for some small part of the day, maybe we can try to just sit without engaging for some time.  This can have an amasingly freeing effect on the mind and maybe bring about a little happiness.

Monday 3 May 2010

There are many different aspect of our life we try to change, some we think are good, some we think are bad.  These aspects of our life have no real good or bad in the ultimate sense, although we experience them in a physical everyday way presently.  Mindfulness practises can sometimes bring us closer to a judgemental place as we slow down from everyday hectic life.  Try to accept everything that comes when you are sitting in meditation without any judgement though.  Use what is shown to you by your mind as an instruction on how to live your life from this moment onwards.  Remember to talk to others who meditate regularly, or even better a meditation master to maintain a correct path.  Finish all sessions with a heartfelt wish:

May all beings be truly happy and free from suffering.  May all beings never have their true happiness taken from them and may they be able to live a balanced life without attachment to some and aversion to others.

Saturday 17th April 2010

How well trained are you? I ask this more as a question of habits.  How well do you think you have created habits in your life?  We all tend to have habits: getting up for work, brushing our teeth, washing, eating our food.  How often though do we actually intentionally do these activities?  Mindfulness is not about slowly doing these habits, but by being aware.  Feelings, tastes, sights, smells, sounds...all can be forgotten when we get into habitual patterns.  Try to take some time to experience one of your daily habits today.

Friday 2 April 2010

Life is something to be happy with.  Sometimes people can make their lives unhappy by listening to all the confusion going on in the mind.  The mind can work on so many levels and will never be satisfied no matter how many of our dreams become real.  This can sometimes cause disappointment though because there will always be things which do not go the same way we want them to.  Having a focus and a direction may be important, but it may also be important not to attach oursleves so strongly to the outcome.  To be equally good at winning and losing can have much more benefits in the long run. Try to accept what appears to you in life without tainting the natural event.  We all have something to be grateful for in life, if life seems hard, just focus on those things we have attained for now, no matter how small or large they may be.

Thursday 25th March 2010

In response to a few requests for a 'web-site' that can be viewed regularly this blog should be a good starting point.

If you find anything here of use please enjoy it, if there is anything which you feel you don't agree with please discard it.

The title of the blog should be the main practice to try to begin with.
Breathe out....relax.