mindfulness and heartfulness
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Step into your inner space
Pause and listen
When the distractions pass
You might recognise the silence
That stillness that nurtures your spark
A quiet aliveness
Holy and wild
Our true home
The quiet inside
HOW MINDFULNESS CAN HELP US
How does this addiction affect our lives?
Craving things we don’t have and pushing away what we don't want can become strong habits in our mind. Living in this way puts us in opposition to reality and creates more problems for us. No one can have things go their way all of the time. Even if you ruled the entire world, there’s no way you can control everything and everyone. And even if things do work out the way that you want them to, it won’t be long until you’re craving something new, or something changes that you don’t like. The more that we try to fight what is happening in our life, the more separated from reality we become. We retreat into our dreams of a perfect future or strategies to protect ourselves from imagined future threats. We become lost in thought, isolated from what’s going on around us, from other people and even from our own bodies. We start to feel separate, vulnerable, and desperately unhappy. We don’t realise that it’s actually the craving for things we don’t have and our fear, hatred and judgement of the things that are there that is keeping us trapped in our misery.
What can we do about it?
Come back to reality. Mindfulness is about returning to what’s happening right now with an accepting and open mind. Becoming more aware of what’s around you and what’s going on inside you, without judging it, helps to let go of worries and anxieties. Training your mind to be present can loosen its ingrained habits of pushing and pulling to make things different. You’ll begin to slow down and appreciate what’s going on in your life. You’ll start to realise that everything is changing all of the time and grasping onto things or pushing them away doesn’t make much sense, they’ll only change again anyway.
But it’s not always easy. We need to keep our mind perfectly balanced, in order to stay present. Otherwise, it’s so easy for our old habits of craving or aversion to kick in again. But who has a permanently balanced mind? Even if you are living a zero stress, permanent holiday in Bali dream life, sooner or later boredom will kick in, or envy or frustration. We can’t hide from life’s challenges, so we need to learn how to face them.
How do we face things that are hard?
Sometimes it takes a lot not to run away. Mindfulness trains us to trust in our ability to be there in challenging situations. By keeping a balanced mind, focussing on our moment-to-moment experience and bringing in some care and compassion for ourselves and others, we can learn to stay present even when things are very hard. We can stop fighting or running. When we realise that we are more resilient than we think, we can stop living such defended lives and open up further to everything around us.
How can we just accept reality when things are wrong?
Accepting reality doesn’t mean we shouldn’t act to change it. In fact, it’s only when we accept the reality of what is happening, that we can see it clearly and respond in a wise way. Often we react out of our old habits, running away, lashing out or numbing ourselves, instead of being able to access our wise and compassionate true nature. In most cases a wise response gets far better results than a panicked reaction.
Why are we so unhappy?
Even when we are safe, healthy and loved, a lot of the time we feel anxious, stressed, unhappy or overwhelmed. There are many different reasons for being unhappy, but it really boils down to our desire for things to be different. We spend a lot of our time grasping after things that we want that aren’t there and pushing away the things in our life that we see as threatening.
We are basically addicted to having things go the way we want them to.
What is the goal of mindfulness?
Practicing mindfulness brings us many benefits: a calm, steady mind, a sense of wellbeing and a deep resilience. But just like everything else, happiness, peacefulness and tranquillity don’t last forever. The real goal is to free yourself of craving and aversion, not to get high, but to get free. This kind of liberation allows you to witness the ups and downs in your life as they are happening, without reacting. You start to learn who you really are: the compassionate awareness watching it all unfold.
01.
A six week, small group course over zoom or in person. This introductory course is perfect for beginners, but is also very useful for people with some meditation experience who are looking to integrate mindfulness into their everyday life. The classes are 1 and a half hours long and include some gentle movement, meditation practice and a chance to share and ask questions.
02.
A meditation program in the workplace can foster a far more collaborative, emotionally intelligent and positive environment. And it reduces stress, which results in lower absenteeism and higher productivity rates. In fact, meditation is an employee perk that also benefits the business – otherwise known as a no-brainer. Get in touch with me and we can create a program that’s perfect for your company.
03.
Take some time out to concentrate on your most important relationship - the one that you have with yourself. Mindfulness mornings give you the time and space to really connect with yourself - aligning your body, heart and mind. Please send me a mail and I'll let you know when the next mindfulness morning is being held.
