Making Mindfulness Last

One of main reasons anyone comes to a practice of mindfulness, is a sincere desire to experience more peace and happiness in their life. Often they see their mindfulness practice as a temporary refuge from their daily stresses and dramas. And it does work.

Any decent mindfulness practice should deliver a fairly immediate reprieve from the assaults of the mind and world. Unfortunately, for most practitioners, these positive effects are short lived. They no sooner finish their practice than the busy mind revs up again, bringing with it all the pressures of modern life.

While many attempts at mindfulness may lead to fleeting results, that does not mean a more permanent solution isn’t possible. Like a swan attempting to take wing from the surface of a lake, a certain amount of momentum is necessary to achieve flight. The same is true with any mindfulness practice. If we stick with it, and receive the right instruction, breakthroughs are inevitable.  

Ultimately, any mindfulness practice is not about permanently trying to quiet, fight, or control the mind. Not even the saints, sages or the Buddha himself could achieve this. Rather it is about re-discovering that part of us that lies beneath all of this activity. That part of us that is always present, observing the whole process, yet not affected by any magnitude of passing thoughts, emotions or life circumstances.

In matters of mindfulness, understanding is far more valuable than practice. Fully recognizing the reality that what is most true about you, is that which does not change, has life altering implications. You are the intangible, unchanging, imperturbable, simple knowing essence of awareness, that observes everything without resistance or desire. Taking your stand here frees you from needing to respond to the constant stream of thoughts, emotions, perceptions, sensations, concepts, history or ideas about the future.  And while the mind might continue to react and ramble on for quite a while, without interest or identity, it cannot distract you for long.

Even for the most dedicated seekers, this understanding may take some time to ring true. It is a perspective that only has power to the extent it is tested and found to be true, and there are many commonly held assumptions to examine and debunk.  And even after your most scientific vestiges of your mind have exhausted its arguments, it can take additional time for the understanding to fully colonize your being and overcome decades of conditioned feelings.

However, if you are one of the very small minority of souls called to explore this road less travelled, you will find the journey well worth the effort.

 

You can visit Steve's site for business, executive and life coaching, or find him at Google +

 

Image courtesy of Patou at freedigitalphotos.net

 

 

 

 

Do Not Meditate, Be!

The 20^th century Indian sage Sri Ramana Maharshi was a great spiritual teacher and a man of few words. He taught vichara or Self-inquiry as the most direct path to realizing the truth of one’s nature.  The Marharshi instructed:

Do not meditate – be!
Do not think that you are – be!

Don’t think about being – you are!

Let’s explore this teaching by first looking at who the intended audience was. Ramana was sought out by sincere seekers. Those that through frustration, exhaustion, intuition or Grace had come to the conclusion that lasting peace and happiness was not to be found in any combination of status, riches, relationships or objects of the world.  These seekers had turned their attention around and begun the inner journey. And many had explored a wide variety of teachers, philosophies, religions and practices.

So when Ramana said, “Do not meditate – Be!”, he was not judging meditation as being useless. Meditation and many other practices such as asanas, chanting, praying, acts of service, contemplation and gratitude journaling can and do help millions to temporarily calm their minds and experience more peace, love and presence.  Rather Ramana was cautioning his more advanced students not to allow a practice to become a religion. Not to let the thoughts that keep alive the most subtle mental sense of self to take charge of any process of becoming better or enlightened. In other words do not get addicted to any ego-led practice, where one could become more masterful, holy, spiritual or otherwise worthy. Such activity would simply strengthen that which you seek to be free from.

This directive is echoed in the second line, “Do not think that you are – be!”  The thoughts that comprise our mind can never figure out, experience, or “know” the Self.  The Self is the only one that ever “knows” anything. The mind can only work with objects, and as the Self has no dimensions or physical properties, its discovery lies beyond the capability of mind. In fact, it is often said that the only way the mind can know the Self, is the same way a moth can know the flame - by dying into it.

The last line in our quote admonishes students to forget about leaving the mind in charge of “being” for the same reasons mentioned above.  It is only when you take your attention off the thoughts, perceptions and sensations that comprise our mental experience of the world, and what we believe ourselves to be, that we can we put it on the very experience of being.

What we seek is not far away. You cannot take one step in any direction and be closer to it than you are at this moment.  As the Marharsi says, just be.

You can coach with Steve at www.acoach4u.com or find him at Google +

It Is The Same Self In All

American mythologist and teacher Joseph Campbell, who studied the spiritual teachings of the world for over 40 years, once observed that the best direction he had found comes out of India.

One of the classic Indian works is the centuries old Avadhut Gita, written by the sage Dattatreya.

An Avadhut is a mystic who has moved past the dictates and conditioning of the human mind and discovered the truth who’s fragrance is wisdom, peace and bliss. Gita simply means “song of. ” In this classic poem/teaching there is one stanza that I believe summarizes a great spiritual truth. It goes:

A yogi has no particular path;

He simply renounces imagining things,
His mind then ceases of its own accord,
And the perfect state just naturally occurs.

When Dattartreya refers to a yogi, he is not talking about someone in expensive spandex who can wrap their leg around their head. Rather he is talking about one who is called by Grace to find the truth of existence.

In speaking of renouncing imagining things he talks of the voluntary removal of attention, belief and identity from all changing things such as; thoughts, emotions, sensations, the circumstances of everyday life, etc.

Whenever attention is turned inward, away from external objects and towards its source, the volume and machinations of the mind subside into the background.

With nothing needing to be resisted, acquired or changed in any way, peace and contentment flourish. Without separation, between in and out, here and there, you and me, all differences dissolve into love.

The yogi directly realizes, at our essence, we are fundamental, unchanging, blissful, impersonal, all pervading awareness. It is the same Self in all.

(Steve is a Master Certified Life and Business Coach. Connect with Steve at Life and Business Coach )

 

Mindfulness: The Cure For The Optional Suffering Of Life

It is a common expectation amongst those engaged in any form of mindfulness practice; meditation, contemplation, prayer, asanas, mantras, etc., that with practice they will achieve a permanent “zen like” state, and from that point on experience nothing but bliss.

Forget about this idea. It is not true and there is precious little evidence that any saint, sage, messiah or yogi has ever achieved such a enduring state.

If you are breathing, you are human. Part of being human is experiencing pain, real physical, emotional and spiritual pain.

However where a good mindfulness practice can make a huge difference, is in limiting the amount of optional suffering we needlessly add to the mandatory pain of life.

It is the nature of the human mind to want to resist and control change. Yet change is the one constant in life. Sometimes change brings pain.  A good mindfulness practice can provide many opportunities and teachings to better accept and learn from the pain of life.

Mindfulness practices also provide many powerful tools to help you limit the amount of optional suffering the human mind will tend to add to any of life’s painful moments. Simply, do not expect the mind to stop resisting change.  Do not expect the mind to cease its compulsion to obsess over any perceived thread. That’s its thing. That’s what it does. Your power is found, and peace is restored, by remembering you can always choose what to put your attention on. 

When the pain of life comes, and the mind responds by going wild with excessive anticipation, planning, contingencies, judgements, resistance, remorse, etc. – simply choose, over and over again, not to feed this suffering with attention, identity or belief.

Put your attention on your: breath, body, prayer, asana, nature, etc, really anything that is here, now. And should you find your attention drifting back to the suffering, simply do not buy the inevitable thought, “you can’t do this”, “this doesn’t work for me”, etc.

Rather, take your attention off that thought too, again and again. It all gets easier with practice.

Coach Steve

If You Were Told To Change or Die, Could you Do It?

Imagine your doctor sits you down and tells you on no uncertain terms, "If you don't change your lifestyle, you will be dead in a year." What do you think the chances are that you would actually manage to eat a little better, exercise more, etc.?

The answer, and this has been well studied, is 1 in 7.* Shockingly, only 1 out of 7 patients that have the "change or die" conversation with their physician, are able to change their behaviour. And the point is, if 6 out of 7 of us have trouble making changes when our life literally depends on it, is it any surprise we struggle to make so many other changes in our lives, careers and businesses?

As we approach the time of the year when many of us reflect upon our living and consider the changes we want to make in the New Year, it is important to remember there are some changes we can make by ourselves but many more we simply cannot. These latter type of "adaptive" changes are those bigger challenges that require a change in mindset and behaviour. These types of changes take time, reinforcement and the power of relationship to help us revise limiting thoughts and assumptions. In short, there are changes that are very difficult for us human beings to do on our own - even when our life depends on it.

So if you are contemplating making some important changes this year, remember that your best intentions and willpower may simply not be enough to guarantee you the results you seek.

Thus, to better increase your odds of success, here are a few tips:

- Make sure that whatever you are trying to do, really does line up with what is truly important to you. (What you genuinely value.) Many changes fail simply because they conflict with a deeply held belief or value.

- Make sure you have a high level of commitment. A good rule of thumb is that you should have a 4 out of 5 level of commitment if you are going to be able to hang in there long enough to see through an important change. Anything less and you could easily be distracted or discouraged when things get tough or busy.

- Anticipate resistance. Anytime we attempt to move out of our comfort zone we run into resistance. Some of these thoughts/feelings/habits can completely sideline us if we are not ready for them. When the resistance shows up, get curious about any assumptions or assertions that undermine your change initiative. Chances are they are based on faulty or out of date information that no longer serves you.

- Design your support team. Big changes can be scary. Call in backup. Make sure you have a few key people you can share your goal with and turn to when things get tough. We really benefit from relationships that can remind us why we are doing something, help us examine our limiting beliefs and help us see where growth is waiting to happen. (We are all blind to some of the biggest changes we really need to make - to get the results we want.)

Good luck with all your goals, dreams and aspirations for the upcoming year. If you can dream it, and it makes your heart sing, if you take care of yourself day to day so you don't get exhausted, if you build on your strengths, if you can take it a step at a time and reach out for help when, or before, you need it, and if you can be open to the journey taking you in a different direction than you initially planned - then I believe you are going to have a fabulous adventure in the New Year.

Good luck,

Life and Business Coach Steve