Tag: Mindfulness

Using the breath today

Karl Duffy3 Comments

meditation breathingWhen we are physically and mentally calm, we have the ability to make choices in our lives. Often when we lose control we become physically or emotionally reactive. Not only does being aware of something as simple as breathing tell us a lot about the emotional state of ourselves and others, it gives us the chace to truly observe how and why we react in a certain way to specific circumstances. By anchoring in the present moment with our breath, the benefits of being in the moment are complimented by the natural relaxation that occurs with conscious breathing. Learning to be aware of our breathing is one of the single best tools we have for keeping a foothold in the present moment.

Shannon Duncan, Present Moment Awareness.

Silence in everyday life

Karl Duffy1 Comment

Solitude is an elusive thing that needs to find us rather than us finding it. We tend to picture solitude in a naïve way as something that we can “soak ourselves in” as we would soak ourselves in a warm bath. We tend to picture solitude this way: We are busy, pressured, and tired. We finally have a chance to slip away for a weekend. We rent a cabin, complete with a fireplace, in a secluded woods. We pack some food, some wine, and some soft music and we resist packing any phones, iPads, or laptops. This is to be a quiet weekend, a time to drink wine by the fireplace and listen to the birds sing, a time of solitude.

But solitude cannot be so easily programmed. We can set up all the optimum conditions for it, but that is no guarantee we will find it. It has to find us, or, more accurately, a certain something inside of us has to be awake to its presence. Solitude is not something we turn on like a water faucet. It needs a body and mind slowed down enough to be attentive to the present moment. We are in solitude when, as Thomas Merton says, we fully taste the water we are drinking, feel the warmth of our blankets, and are restful enough to be content inside our own skin.

Ron Rolheiser, Longing for Solitude

Sunday Quote: Opening of eyes

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Life is no passing memory of what has been
nor the remaining pages in a great book
waiting to be read.

It is the opening of eyes long closed.

David Whyte

Kindness towards ourselves

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Embodied meditation is a very different and far more fruitful way to practice than the disembodied path we have been following.  But this leaves us wondering just how to carry out our meditation in an embodied manner and inhabit our body in practice.  Most fundamentally, meditating with the body involves paying attention to the body in a direct and non-conceptual way.  This calls for very focused work and requires regularity, steadiness, and an ongoing commitment.  In fact, I would say that once we “catch on” to what meditating with the body is all about, we enter a path that will unfold as long as there is life.  At the same time, the experiential impact of the work is immediately felt, so there is confirmation of the rightness of what we are doing and as an evolving natural trust in the process that is beginning to unfold.

Reggie Ray

Waiting for life to begin

Karl Duffy1 Comment

We think that happiness is only possible in the future – when we get a house, a car, a Ph.D. We struggle in our mind and body, and we don’t touch the peace and joy that are available right now – the blue sky, the green leaves, the eyes of our beloved.

Thich Nhat Hahn

Interrupting a cycle of reactivity

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One of the key, frequent,  things in life is having to deal with disappointment. And consequently a lot of our suffering comes from this area, as like this first quote says. We prefer to rerun the memory of an event or a feeling or some words, rather like a dog returning to a bone. A wiser way of acting is suggested in the second quote, staying as close as possible to the felt sense of the experience, thus limiting  it spinning off into a reactive cycle of thoughts and emotions.

Disappointment has a chimerical quality because our minds refuse to accept what is; therefore, we relive the disappointment over and over again, never noticing after the initial experience that it is only a memory we are re-experiencing, much like watching old movie reruns.

If you can stay present when something disappointing occurs, the next response is to open fully to the experience. Don’t deny it, don’t push it away, but realize, “Ah, this is disappointment. What does it taste like? Where is it in my body? Is the feeling expanding or contracting?” Open to the experience of disappointment so that you can accept it and let it pass through your mind and heart. Then you can go on with your life’s journey and not be frozen in place by your pain.

Philip Moffitt, Living with Disappointment