Boggles - Mindfulness Videos Articles and Tips October 162017 No. 535

Getting in the Groove

We need to break out of automatic habitual behaviour - there's no such thing as a good habit. However, we need to build meditation into our routine - discipline requires that. That said, your meditation itself should never be routine!

 

Mindfulness Tip

Break a habit today. Do something completely out of character. It doesn't have to be so earth-shattering that everyone will go "What the hell was that?" - just something that you will really and truly notice and, perhaps, feel a little uncomfortable doing. After all, it's time you start noticing and, who knows, it might be earth-shattering for you.

 

Reflections on Mindfulness

I've often quoted the World Health Organization's contention that stress will kill more people in the developed world in the 21st century than anything else. And, as far as I can see, they've got it spot on - it appears, from surveys, research and my own work, that the modern workplace is not a pleasant place, that the well-worn statistic that most over two-thirds of people don't like what they do to earn money, is actually grinding people down.

And, yet, stress is a lot like beauty - in the eye (or mind) of the beholder - for one woman's or man's stress is another one's turn on or motivation. Stress is a uniquely personal thing, a product of our all-too-programmed automated imagination. It isn't just that, 10,000 years ago, stress saved our lives, it is that, as evolution would have it, stress sharpens our wits. Unfortunately, though, it seems to be sharpening the sword that all too many people are falling on!

It's almost 30 years since the University of Massachussets Medical School "prescribed" meditation to patients who were encountering the stress associated with a diagnosis of terminal cancer. It's almost 30 years since their reseach confirmed that those who embraced meditation enhanced their survivability six-fold. And it's over 20 years since I started "teaching" my clients meditation. Most of them had misgivings and, when I mention meditation nowadays, precious little has changed. What is it about us that we pride ourselves on our resilience, that we're prepared to put up with crap, day-in, day-out, to make it through the day, day-in, day-out? When will we start looking after ourselves so that can be healthy in mind and body and be useful to those around us... particularly those whom we love?

 

Mindfulness Workshops

The Psychology of Success will take place again in Dublin on Tuesday November 14th. As any of you who have participated already know, participant numbers are limited to eight and the average number is more like five or six. That's deliberate - it's never sold, people are made aware of it and those who are up to looking after themselves come along. It's also becuase it's an intensive experience and is meant to be. So, if you know anyone who wants to come along to the IMI in Sandyford on either Tuesday November 14th or next January 16th, share this page with them. And, if you're ready to change your own life yourself, you'll find all the details here...

Normal Crazy People - Mindlessness in Action

Just been talking to a friend who's just been talking to a friend... in the latter case, a friend who is distraught that her boyfriend wants to have nothing to do with her anymore, ever again! And who could blame him - in order to make him "love her more" (that's a quote!), she broke up with him. Still waiting for someone to explain the logic here. And, now that he hasn't come running after her, all distraught that he can't live without her, it turns out that, actually, he can live without her... he's doing just fine.

The real sting of the tail in this story is that the girl in question has used this gambit before - with equally unsuccessful consequences. Not once before... three times over the last eight years. What is it that we've been saying about us being creatures of habit?

   

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