Month: October 2011

Being sustained on our path

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Mystery is not much in favor these days. The notion that there are limits to what we can do, what we can know, limits to our dominion, does not sit well with kings and queens of the hill. Humility and reverence, we hear, are the attitudes of cowards. . . . By ‘mystery’ I do not mean simply the blank places on our maps. I mean the divine source — not a void, not a darkness, but an uncapturable fullness. We are sustained by processes and powers that we can neither fathom nor do without. I speak of that ground as holy because it is ultimate, it is what makes us possible, that shapes and upholds everything we see. The stories I am most interested in hearing, reading, and telling, are those that help us imagine our lives in relation to that ground.

Scott Russell Sanders, Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World

Cradling our fears

Karl Duffy1 Comment

The essential practice is to cultivate maitri, or loving-kindness. The Shambhala teachings speak of “placing our fearful mind in the cradle of loving-kindness.” Another image for maitri is that of a mother bird who protects and cares for her young until they are strong enough to fly away.  People sometimes ask, “Who am I in this image – the mother or the chick. The answer is both….Without loving kindness for ourselves it is difficult if not impossible to genuinely feel it for others

Pema Chodron, Comfortable with Uncertainty

Sunday Quote: Like a leaf

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Walk around feeling like a leaf
know you could tumble at any second.

Then decide what to do with your time.

Naomi Shibab Nye, The Art of Disappearing

New studies on the effects of Mindfulness meditation 2: Exam stress

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Another recent study on the beneficial effects of a mindfulness meditation programme, this time MBCT,  for university students facing exams. It has been found that students, under the stressful conditions of exams and the need to successfully complete their studies, are prone to depression, anxiety, automatic thoughts, and dysfunctional attitudes. This can lead to much lower scores and under-achievement.

To test this non-clinical population, a controlled study was conducted in Iran, with participants randomly assigned either to take part in an 8-week MBCT Course or remain in a waiting list control group. The MBCT group followed the standard Mindfulness programme, including 40 minutes of personal practice each day for the duration of the Course. They were assessed at 5 different points: pre-test, session 4, session 8, first follow-up (1 month) and second follow-up (6 months).

The results found that mindfulness was effective in helping the students to deal with their anxiety and depressive feelings before, during and after stressful circumstances. Furthermore, the reductions in negative automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes were significant.

This is an interesting study because of the population and provides evidence that Mindfulness interventions might be of significant use in supporting well-being in students and others who are susceptible to experience anxiety and depression in real life situations as well as improving performance at crucial times.

Hossein Kaviani , Foroozan Javaheri , Neda Hatami, “Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Reduces Depression and Anxiety Induced by Real Stressful Setting in Non-clinical Population” International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, Volume 11 Num. 2,  June 2011.

Grateful center

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Another way of talking about a refuge, as a  place from where we feel welcomed, and can draw comfort. This reflection nicely conveys the sense of care and home: a safe refuge within which supports us at every moment. It goes well with the weather that was there early this morning, as the incredibly mild autumn finally begins to get cold and the first frost appears. Our refuge is within: we can drop in at any time, and find what we truly value.  It is nice to have a warm place to go to.

Let me describe my grateful center to you. I was seven years old, and my parents were trying to move to the West Coast. Our relative poverty, however, caught up with us, and we were forced to winter in the cabin of an uncle in the Rocky Mountains. The time was difficult for my parents, I am sure, but for me it was glory . . . my most vivid memory is of the fireplace. (I had never been around a fireplace before, all of our heat heretofore having come from the coal furnace in our Nebraska home.) Every night I would pull out the bed that hid in the couch by day and climb under the heavy quilts, my head less than ten feet away from the crackling warmth. Night after night I would fall asleep, watching this strange yellow blaze that warmed us all. I was in my grateful center.

Richard J. Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home

Everything comes and goes

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Often in meditation we speak of letting go of something: let go of thoughts, let go of emotions, let go of pain. Sometimes that is not exactly the right phrase, because letting go suggests that you need to do something. A better phrase to work with is “Let it be”. Let it be. Everything comes and goes by itself. We do not have to do anything to make it come or to make it go, or to let go. We just have to let it be.

Joseph Goldstein, Insight Meditation