Tag: Meditation

Watching the leaves float by

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Our thoughts are always happening. Much like leaves floating down a stream…If you are standing by a river and a leaf floats by, you have your choice of following the leaf with your eye or keeping your attention fixed in front of you. The leaf floats out of your line of vision. Another leaf enters…and floats by. But as we stand on the bank of the river and the leaves float by, there is no confusion as to whether or not we are the leaves. Similarly, it turns out that there is a place in our minds from which we can watch our own mental images go by. We aren’t our thoughts any more than we are the leaves.

Ram Dass and Paul Gorman

The breath as anchor

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Traditionally in mindfulness meditation you use your breath initially as the object of concentration to collect and unify the mind. You typically stay with the experience of the breath as it touches the body in a single spot, such as the tip of the nose or the rise and fall of the chest, or the feeling of the breath in the whole body. When your mind starts wandering, the breath becomes your anchor to which you return in order to stabilize and focus your attention.

Phillip Moffitt

the mind is always judging

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The habit of judging our experience locks us into mechanical reactions that we are not even aware of and that often have no objective basis at all. These judgments tend to dominate our minds making it difficult to find any peace wihin ourselves.

It is as if the mind were a yo-yo going up and down on the string of our own judging thoughts all day long.

Jon Kabat Zinn

Practicing mindfulness in daily life 2.

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A very simple way of heightening your awareness to what is going on in the present moment is to draw attention to your sense of touch:

During the day find as many ways as you can to increase your awareness of your sense of touch. For example, notice the warmth of a cup of coffee, notice your fingers touching the computer keyboard,  or the steering wheel of the car at a red light. When you wash your hands really feel the touch of the water, and the softness of the soap. When you lift a glass or cup  feel the touch of the glass, the coldness or warmth due to the contents. Feel the touch of what you eat and drink, staying with the sensations of the food rather than thoughts about it.

….yet I’ve arrived

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Let go of the idea that the path will lead you to your goal.

The truth is that with each step we take, we arrive.  Repeat that to yourself every morning: ‘I’ve arrived.’  That way you’ll find it much easier to stay in touch with each second of your day.

Paulo Coelho

Not going anywhere…..

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Meditation is about letting the mind be as it is and knowing something about how it is in this moment.

It’s not about getting somewhere else,  but about allowing yourself to be where you already are.

Jon Kabat Zinn,  Wherever you go, there you are