Every Day Mindfulness

Every Day Mindfulness
Every Day Mindfulness

I am trying to make the practice of mindful living part of my every day life. I was introduced to this at the Alta WOR weekend. I would like to thank Jim Struve and his staff for introducing this to me and the others men at the weekend. That weekend inspired me to start a group for men in my community that would like to learn and share the practice of mindfulness.

I would like to start this thread to share my journey along the path of awakening. Please feel free (like you need my permission)to post any thing that brings mindfulness to your day. This can take any form like the smile of a child or a loved one. A blue sky (one of my favorites) or the wind on your face or the taste of an apple that you just ate. It is the practice of noticing you,I, are in this moment and this is the only moment that we live in. You can also if you like post a talk or a meditation that you like and feel would inspire others.
Thank You for all the love and support that I feel from this community.
Bluesky
 
Mindfully acknowledging the loneliness inside. Trying to stay with it and be as compassionate to this feeling as I can. Listening to it hearing what it needs. It needs just to be, with out me chasing it out of my mind and heart.
Bluesky
 
love this idea - so here is my first contribution:

most days after we leave school, my wife and i sit on our veranda with a cup of tea and review our days. it is a time to catch up, re-connect, and unwind. We take time for one another and for ourselves and to reflect on our part in the wider sommunity.

one of the most helpful and relaxing and healing parts of this time for me is to be able to observe the bits of nature that i can see from our apartment - in all its consistency, transitions, and variety.

The sky may be blue or grey, but usually changes into muted pastels or vivid hues as we relax and watch - infinite variations on the same theme - whether subtle or dramatic.

the trees may be in bloom, beginning to leaf out, in full foliage, dropping their leaves, or mostly bare, but the patterns of branches against the sky is reliable and comfortingly familiar. there are often birds to be seen and heard.

taking the time to see and and also experience our other senses, not to "do" anything - but simply to "be" has become a cherished part of our days.

Lee
 
Some days I get to eat lunch by my self with no one home. When I do this I usually try not to waste time (like eating is a waste of time lol ) so I read or listen to music or do some kind of work. But to day no music no books just me and my food. My chicken curried rice and carrots with my home made garlic hot sauce on the side. I ate slowly enjoying and savoring each bite. Taking the time to chew and taste the many flavors being mindful of the moment grateful for the moment. All alone no phone no talking or listening only to my spoon against the plate and my breath.
Bluesky
 
Thank you for the support,encouragement and contributions. I hope many will share.
Bluesky
 
today i am mindfully acknowledging the joy of arriving very early and being in the right place with plenty of time to relax, pray, meditate, plan, ponder and wonder about life and i can observe and watch others as they do while i be.

such a rare luxury... calm.
 
Mindful about the fact that I feel angry how things change around me but I have no say in it. I am trying to be mindful of the anger and have compassion to my self by not denying that I am like I do most of the time.
Bluesky
 
FYI: This is awesome content. Thank you SO much. Please keep it coming. I'm learning and soaking it up like a sponge!

There is so much in this for me to learn!
 
mindful and mind fulfilled by a home full of people i love fully.
kitchen aromas.
television noises.
savoured moments.

spending the weekend with my wife and kids.
i have a mind full of good fortune,
and a heart full of gratitude.

the absence of pain is pleasure.
the presence of joy is treasure.
 
In the past 24 hours I was in three situations where I could either choose to think there must be some kind of conspiracy to play with my mind or choose to be present and able to respond in an appropriate way with out making things personal. Even in the face of insults and accusation. Staying in the moment breathing and realizing that compassion for my self and others would be the right choice. It was truly not so easy but feels good to be able to hold on and let the words of others just pass by like the clouds in the sky.
Bluesky
 
Lately, I've been waking up around 4:00 am. I love the quiet-- the wife, daughter and pets are sleeping (except my cat, who rubs against my legs like she hasn't seen me in a year.) I stand in the kitchen and look out at the moon through the picture window as it disappears into the lake behind the house.

The shades of deep blue are stunning. The kitchen faces east, so the sunrise comes up on the other side of the house. While the moon is slowly merging into the rippling water, the sky is still the color of indigo. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying a quiet cup of coffee, just me and a terribly spoiled little tortoise-shell cat. Then I might head back up to bed, coffee in hand, and quietly slip back into bed. Just me, a still-sleeping wife, our pets, and my thoughts. And peace.

That's my mindfulness. At least for now....

Bob
 
I attend a weekly mindfulness meditation group, but quite frankly the best practice that I have staying present is to use my dog as my role model. I watch him and how he deals with stuff that comes up for him. He doesn't dwell on the past or worry about the future. Everything is about the NOW for him. He gets upset, but doesn't hold on to grudges when he is annoyed with me. He just exists in the moment because HE understands that that is all we really have.

John
 
I am not in this moment. But just realizing that is the beginning of being present.
Bluesky.
 
i am not sure that i can accurately describe this - or even that it is a true example of mindfulness, but i will try.

when i am attempting to create a piece of artwork, there is a process that i go through - not entirely conscious nor unconscious - but perhaps a blend of both or transition from one to the other.

at first i can be intensely self-conscious - to the point of feeling awkward and uncomfortable and as though i need to get past an invisible and internal barrier in order to achieve good work. the more aware i am of my self - my thoughts, my feelings, my actions and reactions, the less authentic and the more stilted and artificial my product is going to be.

but i have to forge ahead and try to get over or past my self and to experience and identify with the subject of the drawing or painting. to observe the proportions and lines and curves and textures and colors and tones and contrasts. to strive to capture the essence of the subject or at least my perception of its appearance and therefore my version of the reality.

when i succeed in accomplishing that it is because i identify so closely with the subject and with my work that it is like a (excuse the inappropriate image - but i can't think of any other that quite fits) three-way sexual encounter in which all participants are equally fulfilled (not that i have experienced this - but imagine it as the "idealized" fantasy seems to go.) the subject - model or landscape or still life or whatever - and my work on canvas or paper - and my eye and hand and brain all seems to be in perfect harmony, collaboration, balance and equality, all participating and un-consciously or un-self-consciously contributing to the final effect. i become totally absorbed and am taken out of my self and become one with the subject and the art.

somewhere in that continuum, there is a point where mindfulness exists for a fleeting or more prolonged period and then gives way to something more transcendent and instinctive and focused where i cease to exist as a self-conscious entity and am in a symbiotic relationship with the enclosed environment of the subject and my portrayal of it. i don't understand it - and it is one of those things that if you try to accomplish it, it doesn't work - you have to forget about "how" it is done and put the subject first and let your art as a process or an object become secondary and relegate your self to third place - or it doesn't happen. a paradox - but a highly satisfying one when it all comes together and "works."

Lee
 
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I've tried on and off to do mindfulness stuff, but I'm not the best at it. Lately I've been pretty happy and I've been trying to just enjoy the experience of being happy... but I think mindfulness might be more about not labelling your feelings... or something like that?? This probably doesn't count, but last night I watched this kids movie called The Box Trolls. I felt like I was about 6 again. I forgot what it was like to be totally captivated in a story of bad guys and good guys. And of course the good guys win.
 
Thich Nhat Hanh - The Art of Mindful Living

[video:youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDXcIaUKHDU[/video]

[video:youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlEqlqzkpT4[/video]

Bluesky
 
Every day i take my dog to a dog park early in the morning. I cherish these moments where i can see and feel the dawn of a new day. I try to take in as much as i can with my senses with the crisp morning air, the smell of the moist green grass, the birds chirping carelessly away, and my dog sniffing and peeing aimlessly while he plays joyously with other small dogs he sees coming and going. It's intriguing to see owners mingling, socializing, and watching their dog's play; as if their inner children were playing with each other. I treasure these moments knowing life is short and my dog is not going to be with me forever.
 
First, Lee: I am never so much in the moment as when I paint. Not, as you say, at first, when I am working my way through the self-conscious period when the mind gets in the way of the brush or pencil. But on a good day, at some point, I lose track of the time and the place and become one with the paint, the medium, the brush and the canvas. Just working, in and out, up and down, pushing the paint around or sweeping it across a plane. Bringing light, giving shadow, glazing my love and emotion over the pigments gleaned from the good earth and ground into paste and crammed into these impossible metal toothpaste tubes which lie scattered over my table rolled, crushed and deformed as I squeeze the very last drop of that particular hue, value, chroma because that is EXACTLY the one I need for this space over HERE.

These days, I am ever mindful of my children. They are in their last couple of years under my roof, growing into the adults they will be. I find myself breathlessly watching them as they work at their desks, so focused. I watch them as they sleep sometimes, like I did when they were little. I watch them when they swim or run and I see them reaching for something, a goal or objective. I lose myself in these moments of my children's lives. Time stops, and love pervades.
 
Bardo said:
I lose myself in these moments of my children's lives. Time stops, and love pervades.

This is I believe an example of true mindfulness being in the moment lost to all other moments. when we are lost in this moment and dead to all others we are truly alive, living in the now, not lost in the past or seeking the future. Thanks for sharing your life with us all thank to all that are sharing life with us.
Bluesky
 
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