The Practice of One Thing at a Time

There’s a Japanese term, “ichigyo-zammai,” that basically means full concentration on a single act.

Sunryu Suzuki described this practice in his book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, and said this practice of being fully in the moment with the activity is enlightened activity.

“So instead of having some object of worship, we just concentrate on the activity which we do in each moment,” Suzuki Roshi wrote. “When you bow, you should just bow; when you sit, you should just sit; when you eat, you should just eat.”

He said when we just do that one activity, we express our true nature.

What a beautiful idea, that when we aren’t present, our true nature cannot fully express itself … but when we are truly just doing whatever we’re doing, we start to express our true selves.

But it’s easier said than done. How often are we not in the moment?

Think about times when we are:

• Jumping between tasks in a browser
• Checking our phones while doing other things throughout the day
• In a rush to do the next thing while still doing the current thing
• Thinking about other things when someone is talking to us
• Irritated by someone when they interrupt whatever we’re doing
• Taking whatever we’re doing for granted, because it’s dull or routine

It turns out, we are very rarely fully in the moment with any single activity. How can we try this enlightened activity of full concentration on one act?

How to Do One Thing at a Time

These are as much reminders to myself as they are reminders for you, but here’s what I’ve been practicing with:

1. When you start an activity, turn to it with your full attention and set an intention to be present with the act, to do nothing but this activity. You might think, “Just walk” or “Just read” or “Just drink tea.”
2. You might open up a wide-open, sky-like panoramic awareness as you do the activity, being fully engaged with the entire moment.
3. When you notice yourself thinking about something else, or getting your attention pulled elsewhere, or starting down a pattern of judgment, resentment, etc. … just notice. Then return to being fully present with the activity.
4. Empty your mind of preconceived ideas about the activity, and just be curious about what the activity is actually like, right now, as it unfolds. Allow yourself to be surprised.
5. Treat every object with reverence, as if it were your own eyesight.
6. See the brilliance of each moment, of each activity, that underlies everything around us.

Just write. Just shower. Just give someone your full attention.

As we give each activity our full loving attention, we start to appreciate each person, each object, everything around us as something worthy of respect, love, and gratitude.

We start to take life up on the opportunity to fully engage with it, with a smile and a bow.

BY LEO BABAUTA

Article source;https://zenhabits.net/ichigyo-zammai/

"Be MINDFUL of How You SPEAK!" | Mel Robbins (@melrobbins) | #Entspresso

Are Meditation and Mindfulness Dangerous?

When I began meditating in 1984, most people I talked to about it would stare at me blankly, then quickly change the subject or shake their head and walk away. These days, discussions of meditation and mindfulness appear everywhere from business and medical journals, to addiction and trauma recovery groups, to education conferences. In this article, you'll learn why so many are turning to these techniques and how to avoid common misconceptions, dangers, and potential pitfalls.

By recent reports, you might think meditation and mindfulness are a "panacea" (cure all) for everything that ails you. Programs are sprouting up in hospitals for pain management, in prisons for inmate reform, and in military, police, and emergency response settings to help handle intense situations and recover from PTSD.

These techniques are used as a support in psychotherapy-for addiction and trauma recovery, defusing self-sabotage, increasing self-awareness, and taming self-criticism. They are increasingly sought after for dealing with the stress of living in our fast-paced, threat-sensitive world. To feed this demand, countless apps promise to bestow the benefits of these practices at the push of a button.

Yet, with the rise in popularity of mindfulness and meditation, I've begun to see some contrarian headlines, such as "New Study Shows Meditation Doesn't Make You Happier, More Creative," "Meditation Not a Panacea," or "Christians Should Be Wary of Meditation."

As a meditation teacher, I hear beginning students say things like:

• "Meditation was supposed to be relaxing-but it made me irritated."

• "Meditation was supposed to feel good, but it made me more stressed out."

• "I thought meditation would help me sleep, but it gave me nightmares."

• "I thought meditation was supposed to help me accept myself, but it made me more self-critical."

• "I am more aware of my impulsiveness than ever. How is this helping me?"

What's going on here?

(Hint: Meditation doesn't "make these things happen." It reveals them. Meditation and mindfulness make you more aware of what's happening in your subconscious mind.)

Let's demystify meditation and mindfulness by defining them clearly, so you can assess their function and effectiveness, understand misconceptions, and avoid dangers and potential pitfalls.

Meditation and Mindfulness Defined

By meditation I mean, "Mindfully focusing your attention on a specific focal object for a period of time." It's about training your mind to consciously focus your attention. It's that straightforward.

A focal object in meditation can be the sensations of breathing, a mantra or focusing phrase, the stream of your thoughts and feelings, the presence of God, a blank wall, or a candle flame. Focusing on chosen focal objects develops your ability to pay attention, be present, and fully engage with what you are doing.

"Mindfully" in the definition means that you exercise "mindfulness" during meditation. Mindfulness means, "paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, without judgment." In other words, you adopt the attitude of a curious observer, just noticing what is happening without judging it as "good or bad." A non-judgmental attitude enables you to see more clearly, instead of reacting from fear, bias, or prejudice-which distort insight.

To sum up, "meditation" is an attention-training technique and "mindfulness" is an effective attitude for practicing this technique. You could also say that meditation is an opportunity to practice mindfulness. Together, meditation and mindfulness give you a deeper understanding of how your mind works.

Here's how it goes in practice:

As you meditate on a specific focal object, you notice moments when your mind wanders off to other things-such as an argument you had yesterday, a childhood memory, a presentation you have later today, or what you might have for lunch. Mindfulness enables you to recognize when and where your mind wanders, accept this as something a busy mind does, and gently return your attention to your chosen focal object.

During meditation, you will have a whole host of different thoughts and feelings. Some may feel good: some may scare you. Mindfulness treats them all the same-as passing bits of information. Using mindfulness, you come to realize that all thoughts and feelings come and go. They offer information, but they are no more substantial than that. They are nothing to be afraid of when you approach them mindfully. This insight can free you from anxiety about what is going on inside you.

The 3Rs of Meditation

I call the process of managing your mind during meditation the 3Rs: Recognize, Release, and Return. You recognize when you have wandered from your point of focus, release paying attention to that "distraction," and return to your chosen object of attention. It's that simple.

However, like any learned skill, it can be challenging at first. You may find your mind wanders most of the time. You may find yourself caught up in negative thoughts and feelings. You may find yourself irritated, self-critical, bored, or wondering if you're doing it right-or if you're doing anything at all!

That's OK. Recognizing all of this is part of meditation. Meditation increases awareness. You do this by mindfully focusing your attention, recognizing and accepting what your mind does, releasing distractions, and returning to your chosen focus-again and again and again.

As you repeat this process, you develop a sense of ease with managing your thoughts and feelings and a freedom to choose what you focus on and what you release. By practicing mindfulness during meditation, you grow your ability to relate to all kinds of moments in your life with greater freedom and ease.

Further Benefits of Practice

As you meditate for a period of time (say 10-20 minutes) consistently, your mind quiets down, your emotions calm, and your body relaxes. You de-pressurize, let go of over-thinking, and release built-up stress. As you release stress, energy is freed up that your body and mind use to recover, repair, integrate, and heal.

You start to feel like yourself again. You realize that "who you are" is much more than "the chatter" in your mind or the emotions that can "take you over." You are a deeper witnessing presence who "has" thoughts, feelings, and experiences, but is not defined by them. This can be a life-altering discovery!

These benefits don't happen because you are trying to clear your mind, they happen as a result of practicing the 3Rs. As you practice consistently, you develop the skills of recognizing where your mind is focused, releasing what is not serving you or others, and returning to what matters most.

These are invaluable skills that serve you in anything you want to do, overcome, or accomplish. I would go so far as to say they are fundamental skills you need to live your life well. Why, then, weren't you taught these essential skills in school when you were young? Regardless of the reasons, at any age, you can learn them with a few simple instructions, insight into how they work, and consistent practice.

Personally, I like to practice first thing in the morning. For much of my life, I woke up feeling anxious about what I had to do in the day ahead. Yet, now, no matter how I feel when I wake up, I feel relaxed and centered after my morning practice. I have a calm reference point I can return to when I get irritated or stressed out, caught up in negativity, or feel overwhelmed by what's happening in the world around me.

Why Meditation and Mindfulness Are Especially Important These Days

Today there are infinite demands on our time, energy, and attention-and they call to us 24/7-making us feel as if we always need to be doing something productive. We feel compelled to respond instantly on social media and gather a steady stream of tantalizing bits of information to keep us informed and amused. Even entertainment becomes a "must-do" as we feel compelled to binge-watch to get "caught up" on as much enjoyment as possible in our "free-time."

Yet always being "on the go" is not healthy.

Our bodies and brains are not made to run in constant overdrive. We are designed to engage in activity, then to rest and recover from what we've done. In our downtime, our body repairs itself, integrates all that we've experienced, and heals cellular damage we've sustained.

If we don't honor this balance, our systems go haywire. We get exhausted, hold increasing levels of tension in our bodies, and become persistently anxious or depressed. In this "overcooked" state, we invite the host of chronic illnesses like cancer, heart disease, and auto-immune disorders that are epidemic.

Meditation is a structured time-out from all this activity, so you can focus inwardly, rest, and recover. At first, it may feel like "doing nothing," but, as we've seen, the process is a gentle, yet active, training of your mind. It allows you to step back from the frantic pace of life, consciously unwind, and observe what's going on inside.

Meditation and mindfulness reveal your inner workings. They uncover the subconscious biases that lead to arguments, poor judgment, and bad decisions. They shine a light on habits that drive unwanted results in your life. They help you more objectively observe what you are doing, so you can consciously choose healthy habits and let go of unhealthy ones.

Maybe most importantly for us in this hyper-driven consumer culture, they encourage us to slow down, take a deep breath, and pay attention to the relationships, gifts, and opportunities we already have, rather than always trying to be, have, and do more.

Conclusion: Are Meditation and Mindfulness Dangerous?

Are meditation and mindfulness dangerous? Yes. They threaten to make you more conscious and intentional. They are dangerous to your negative thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and beliefs. They release the stifling grip of fear, bias, and prejudice. They shine a light on what needs to change.

By practicing mindfulness in meditation, you learn to evaluate all sides of any situation more objectively, so you can make better decisions. You recognize what no longer serves you and others, so you can shift your time, energy, and attention to what does. And, you become more present, focused, and fully engaged in your experiences, so you live a richer, more purposeful life.

So, let me ask you, "Do you have a regular Meditation/Mindfulness practice?" If so, please share what works well for you.

If you appreciate this article, please Share with your family, friends, and co-workers using the social media buttons.

Enjoy your practice! 

By Kevin Schoeninger 

Want instruction and support for your meditation/mindfulness practice? You'll be guided into a relaxed state of being and a clear focused mind with Clear Quiet Mind Guided Meditations. Just click "Play" and follow along. Download on CD Baby or Download on ITunes

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Kevin_Schoeninger/31493

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9937618

The Mindfulness of Pure Experience

Dropping any story or narrative in your head about what’s happening right now … what are the sensations you’re feeling at this moment?

What are you smelling, tasting, feeling, hearing, seeing? What colors, textures, qualities of light can you perceive? What does it feel like where your body makes contact with your clothing, with your chair, with the earth?

This is your pure sensory experience, and it is rare that most of us let ourselves just stay in this place.

Usually, we’re caught up in a narrative about ourselves, our lives, our current situation, other people. We might notice the pure experience, but almost immediately we start judging it, wishing it were different, getting upset at it, or wishing it didn’t have to change.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with having thoughts about our experience — it’s natural. But it can be the cause of anxiety, fear, unhappiness, frustration.

Dropping into the mindfulness of pure experience is a way we can deal with those problems, in any moment.

Actually, this is what meditation is, for the most part — dropping into the pure experience. Many people misunderstand, and think, “I shouldn’t be thinking! I’m screwing this up, because I keep having thoughts.” This is not a problem. When you meditate, thoughts will come up. You will get lost in a train of thought.

What you want to do, in meditation, is get better at noticing when you’re lost in a train of thought. Then, after noticing, simply return the immediate sensations of your breath and the rest of your current experience. It’s like waking up from a dream. Meditation is training to wake up more often and stay awake longer.

Let’s talk about dropping out of thought and into a pure experience.

What Pure Experience Is

So what do I mean by “pure experience”? Isn’t everything part of our experience, including thoughts? Yes, that’s technically correct (the best kind of correct), but it’s useful to distinguish between our train of thoughts (what I like to call our “story” or “narrative” about our experience) and the actual sensations of what’s happening right now.

A couple examples of the difference between the two:

• You feel coldness on your skin (sensation). You immediately think, “This sucks, I don’t like the cold, I need to get warmer.” This is your narrative about the situation, your interpretation, your judgment. It makes you unhappy. The pure experience of cold, without judgment or narrative, is just a sensation.
• You’re in an airport, and there are noises from people talking all around you, smells from the pretzel shop, light and colors and shapes and visual textures, and more. These are your sensory experience. Your story about how irritating the people are, or how you need to get a cinnamon pretzel in your belly right now, are your thoughts, judgments, narrative. The story can cause you to be unhappy with the situation, but the sensations are just sensations.

So right now, you can notice your sensory experience:

1. What can you hear? Take a moment to pay attention to all auditory sensations you are receiving.
2. What light can you see? What is its quality?
3. What colors and shapes can you see? Soak in the visual sensory information you’re receiving.
4. What touch sensations can you notice in your body right now? Can you feel your feet, your butt on a chair, your jaw, your chest?

What do you notice? Can you be curious about these sensations, and stay with them?

Noticing Thoughts, and Returning to Pure Experience

What happens when you (inevitably) start thinking about the sensations instead of staying with them?

Well, this can lead to an extended daydream as you get lost in the narrative about your experience. Now you’re not actually experiencing the moment, but caught in your story and judgments.

These judgments usually aren’t helpful — they say some version of, “I don’t like this situation (or another person, or something about myself) and I want it to be different.” Or, “I love this so much and I never want it to end, but it will, oh why does it have to end?” Either way, we can be unhappy, frustrated, clinging to what we don’t want to lose or rejecting what we don’t want to experience.

Instead, we can let go of the story, let go of the judgment, and return to the sensations.

We can practice getting better at noticing whether we’re “in our head” or “in our body.” That means noticing whether you’re lost in thoughts or present with your experience.

Once we notice being lost in thoughts, we don’t have to judge that. We can just notice, non-judgmentally, and then make it a habit to return to the sensation. What sensations can you notice right now?

Don’t judge the sensations, just pay attention to them. Don’t push them away and wish they were different, just be curious about them. Don’t cling to them if you like them, but notice with gratitude and let them flow past you lightly.

This is returning to pure experience, with mindfulness and gratitude.

This is the joyful mindfulness of the present moment. Practice now!

BY LEO BABAUTA

https://zenhabits.net/pure/

Mindfulness Meditation - Guided 10 Minutes

5 Inspirations for Being in the Moment

Normally, we do not so much look at things as overlook them. — Alan Watts.

How often have you eaten a meal and not really tasted it, or completed a chore or drove to work without really thinking about it?

Our days often pass us by while our minds are elsewhere.

One of my favorite methods of finding happiness and preventing stress is living in the moment — also known as mindfulness. It’s one of the foundations of Zen Buddhism, of course, (actually all Buddhism, I believe), but it’s not necessarily meditation, per se — it’s more being aware of your actions and thoughts, and what your senses bring in, in your every day routine.

No one actually lives in the moment all the time — I don’t think it’s possible. Some, with practice, can learn to live in the moment for longer than most of us, but there will always be times when you’re worried about the future or thinking about the past, and forget to be in the moment.

It’s actually pretty hard, if you give it a try. Test it out right now: close your eyes (after reading these instructions first), and concentrate on your breathing — the sensation of the air as it enters your nose or mouth and fills your lungs, and as it goes out again. If other thoughts come up, be aware of them, acknowledge them, let them go (but don’t try to force them away) and then return your focus to your breathing.

It’s hard, isn’t it? Being in the moment isn’t as easy as it sounds.

It takes practice. But it can be achieved at times. To help inspire you to live in the moment, here are 5 great examples:

1. Children. There’s no one better at being present than a child. I love to watch my three-year-old son, Seth, as he plays. He’s not thinking about what happened to him yesterday, or what he’s going to do later today. He’s Spiderman, and he’s fighting the bad guys, and nothing else in the world exists. If he gets mad about something, he overreacts, and nothing else in the world matters but what has upset him. But he’ll cry about it, and then soon return to normal, happy again, the offending situation forgotten without a grudge. He has no cares about tomorrow, and for that, I love to watch him. We need to use children as inspiration, and try to be like them sometimes. Jesus instructed us, “Be as a child,” and those were wise words.
2. Cats. I also like watching my cat, Riddle. He thinks he’s a lion. He’ll stealthily stalk an insect or lizard, as if he’s hidden in tall grass on the savanna, and then he pounces and attacks. You know he’s not thinking about what he had for breakfast or what furniture needs to be clawed to shreds later in the day. Cats (and other animals) are all about the Now. Be like a cat.
3. My wife and dessert. My wife Eva really knows how to eat dessert. Actually, of all the people I know, she may be the best at being in the moment, completely. She can really enjoy something, with all of her being. I’ve learned how to eat dessert by watching her — while I tend to gobble something quickly, Eva closes her eyes, and slowly puts a spoon of ice cream in her mouth. She savors the flavor, the texture, the coolness, the sweetness, the chocolateness of it. Eva enjoys things more than most human beings, and she inspires me. The next time you eat something, try not to think about anything else, not to read, not to talk to someone — just experience the food.
   
4. Zen sweeper. It’s been said that the only two jobs of a Zen monk are sitting zazen (meditation) and sweeping. Cleaning is one of the daily rituals of a Zen monk, one of their most important daily practices. They sweep or rake, and they try to do nothing else. They aren’t thinking about being in a Zen state — the Zen state is the sweeping. The next time you’re doing housework (or anything, really), try concentrating on the housework, on the dust, on the motion, on the sensation. See this interesting article for more on this.
5. Yourself, lost in something. You’ve been in the moment plenty of times. Can you remember a time when you lost yourself in a task? Not lost in thought, but lost in the doing of the task itself — you were concentrating fully, you thought of nothing else. The world disappeared. It might have been work — you might have achieved that state of mind known as “flow” — or it could have been a hobby, playing sports, yardwork, fixing something, anything. Try to remember a time like that, and replicate it. 
6. BY LEO BABAUTA
7. https://zenhabits.net/5-inspirations-for-being-in-the-moment/

Mindfulness Meditation - Guided 10 Minutes

Self Awareness and Mindfulness

 If we think carefully there are subtle differences between self-awareness and mindfulness. Self-awareness gives us an understanding of what we are doing, of our strengths and weaknesses, of our likes and dislikes, of our personality, of our emotions. It is subjective. Mindfulness gives us realization and recall. It is a form of awareness but is analytically giving us observation without judgment. It is objective.

Our world today is developing rapidly and our minds may be racing to keep up with it. Consequently, our self-aware thinking is also trying to keep up. We need this, but we also need to be aware of the emotional pressures induced by subjectivity and whether we are equipped to deal with them. We can feel emotions. We know what we are feeling, but, does our self-awareness tell us why? If we do not self-realize the why, the emotional thinking may inhibit us from action through fear created by over judgment of our feelings. We must avoid letting in any such negative thinking. If we do not control our selves we cannot control our actions that define our destiny.

We need a balance to complete our wisdom. We need a step back, wait a moment, analytical view. The mindfulness concept originates from Buddhism. Whether considered an art or science it gives us a presence in the moment using knowledge from recall and realization to assess that moment without judgment. Just get the facts!

While the concept is simple, implementing it is challenging and requires self-discipline. It requires a focused attention on the moment you are experiencing without passing judgment based on any subjective thoughts or feelings. Unemotionally observe what is happening both in your mind and externally. 

Mindfulness training describes the mind as a machine for judgment. It is our nature that we form instant judgments on situations. It is often said that we assess a new contact within the first few seconds. This is a legacy from our prehistory where constant struggles of life and death resulted in a need for snap fight or flight decisions. Nowadays it is emotion that is more prevalent in forming judgments on experiences, defining them as good or bad. While neutral feelings exist they are not uppermost in our attention as they do not feed the emotions. Mindfulness encourages us to observe all things with the same level of attention but without passing judgment. 

This attitude gives us a refreshed clean mind that is rational in its actions as it is uninfluenced by other factors. An example is shown by the following mindfulness exercise: The next time you meet someone you know try to see him or her through fresh eyes. Try to suspend all of your existing knowledge, thoughts and opinions.  Try it with family members, close friends and colleagues. Do you see them differently, removing previous possibly inaccurate concepts?

One of the most important benefits of mindfulness in terms of personal contentment and success comes from the realization that you are thinking something that is unhelpful or unrealistic, something negative. Mindfulness means learning to experience your thoughts without passing judgment with emotion but instead assessing the realism of the experience. Many of the negative thoughts you experience when you are emotionally upset tend to be distorted and unhelpful. So let these thoughts go, identifying them as natural symptoms of a particular emotional state, replacing them with thoughts of just determining the fact. Thoughts and emotions work together. The sooner you come to the point where you can view them objectively the better your personal feelings will become.

Increasing your familiarity with the thoughts that enter your head when you feel depressed will make it easier for you to recognize them as emotions rather than facts. Once you have become familiar with the dark side of emotions you are further equipped to cope, manage and remove negative thoughts in reality.
by John Doidge


John Doidge has a science background leading him to a fascination and curiosity about the whole package of the universe and how the mind interacts with the physical within it. By understanding our relationship with nature the aim is to aid our mental development to fulfilment, with belief through knowledge. If you wish to continue your journey of exploration into developing your mind for enhanced confidence, resourcefulness and success visit http://www.killnegative.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/Self-Awareness-and-Mindfulness/224268

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