The Centre for Mindfulness Studies offers a variety of programs in mindfulness for:
- people who are well but looking to live more fully
- professionals who would like to learn about and teach mindfulness
- those who suffer from a variety of conditions
- people who have affordability issues
This weekly blog is a way for us to talk about Mindfulness in everyday life. We’re all in the Mindfield together.
Mindfulness for us starts with:
- Awareness of bodily sensations, thoughts and emotions.
- Intentionally waking up to our experience as it is in each moment, whether the situation or emotion is pleasurable or aggravating.
Why be awake?
Coming out of our automatic and habitual reactions helps us feel more fully alive, to be able to experience what Jon Kabat Zinn calls, “the full catastrophe.” Life brings joy and pain. We don’t get one without the other. There is no escape.
We are emotional creatures and often react to moods and situations, whether they are wanted or not. Since this reactivity usually happens habitually and without awareness, we may not notice that our flying off the handle was the first step downward into bad moods, such as irritability, anger or fear. They escalate without us choosing what is happening to us.
Waking up lets us have more choice about how we want to live and respond to life’s offerings.
Often, when we are faced with situations we don’t like or that result in anxiety, we avoid or withdraw. This might seem like a good move at the time but can often make things worse, creating a narrow, restricted way of living. When we face, or become more aware of the things we are afraid of we can have a greater possibility of living a fulfilled, more joyful and richer existence.
6 ways to be more awake
- Notice you are breathing
- When you eat, savour your food
- Be aware of sensations in the body
- Name your emotions
- Don’t believe everything you think
- Remember: “This too shall pass” –because everything does
How else can you wake up?
Mindfully yours,
Naomi Eaton