On the same theme as recent posts, but applying it as a practical way of dealing with the stresses and crises that arise during our working day. This is an easy-to-apply way of breaking the cycle of stress reactivity – divert your attention to your physical environment, like the touch of your hands on the keyboard, your breathing, or your feet in contact with the floor. See if you can create a small break from the spinning of the mind by tuning into the sensations of the body.
To gain composure at stressful moments, we can apply the mindfulness effort of letting go – abruptly shifting our attention from our thoughts to the immediacy of our physical environment. By suddenly being mindful in this way, we discover a stillness, an emotional space of “not knowing” , like opening a door to an unknown room or leaping from a diving board. When we are mindful in the immediate moment, the chaotic flood of emotions no longer vies for our attention like a crowd of loud, unruly voices. Instead they focus and settle into a physical feeling, unclear and murky, but no less powerful – a tickle in the stomach, a vague softness around the heart, or an openenss in the throat.
Michael Carroll, At Times of Risk and Stress, Cultivate Stillness
Since everything is sacred, staying close to what is sacred is a matter of presence and attention more than travel to some secret place. In essence, staying close is a pilgrimage to the heart of where we are. Since it is we who lose our directness of living, our task is often to restore that freshness of being alive….How do we stray on and off the path of what matters? How do we befriend the life of obstacles? How do we find a home between suffering and loving the world? How do help each other respond to the invitation to grow?
Mindfulbalance 