November 20 2017 No. 537
Thinking... When You Shouldn't Be Thinking at All
We think too much - that's what gets us into trouble! Meditation is a tool that enables us experience the here and now - to be in the present. So why would you think about your meditation at all?
Take five minutes and go somewhere where you can sit down and watch what's going on, what people are doing, how they are doing it. Don't evaluate or, as we often do, try to interpret what's taking place. Just observe - see, feel, hear, smell and taste what's going on without judging it. The more you can do that, the more you're going to be able to do what you need to do to where you want to go... in the zone.
I am struck, as I'm sure you are, by the recent avalanche of reports about the inappropriate behaviour of people in positions of power. Revelations are shining a light into the world of movie-making and politics but, truth is, we all know people who behave inappropriately and, generally speaking, we all let them get on with it.
I really want to focus on the small stuff - bitching in the office, back-biting in the tennis club, the subtle bullying that goes on in the workplace that is, of itself, too subtle to cause any alarm bells to ring. But inappropriate behaviour should never be too sublte to call out for the resaon I want to focus on the small stuff is that, when you give normal crazy an inch, they'll inevitably take the proverbial mile. As I often point out to clients when asked how best to manage conflict, the little suff should be called out before it ever gets that far.
In a similar vein, on of the 100 Statements in The Mindfulness Measurement Index alludes to how we "suffer fools" - often putting up with behaviour that should be nipped in the bud. The mindful person is expert at doing this, even when the inappropriate behaviour is of the subtle variety. A word here or there is often all that it takes to stop someone before they go down the slippery slope towards normal crazy behaviour.
And, of course, as in politics or the film industry, when inappropriate behaviour is not addressed, it ends up becoming normalized - and that is what has this world of our in the mess in which it finds itself.
The Psychology of Success will take place again in Dublin on Tuesday January 16th 2018. 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. It's an intensive experience and is meant to be... it also happens to be a really relaxing day! So, if you know anyone who wants to come along to the IMI in Sandyford on Tuesday 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...
We've just got over mid-term break in the Alps - Les Vacances de Toussaint as the French would have it... All Saints' Holidays. But there are not a lot of Saints around!
As I've often explained to my friends and clients, holidays in the Alps - or anywhere - is a wonderful opportunity for free entertainment for those of us who live here all year 'round... holidaymakers (whom a local hotelier claims leave their brains at home when they come on holidays) are the only people in our part of the world who are suffering from stress... they are stressed out trying to enjoy themselves: they're the only people who toot their car horns, the only people who fight over parking spaces, the only people who leap from moving cars mid-argument!
Little wonder that statistics show that two of the most stressful times of the year are the family holiday and Christmas!!