mindfulness

Tag Archive for mindfulness

Brushes, Beads, and Blessings: Making Mindfulness by Hand

June 12, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

Wanted to remind you that we’ll be hearing from Maggie Oman Shannon on the next Chi For Yourself. She joins us on Thursday June 13th at 1pm Pacific time. We plan to stream the interview on chiforyourself.com at that time. Maggie’s message goes beyond merely making things. She reminds us that we all have the ability to create, and in doing so we can bring serenity to our lives at a time when serenity is a scarce commodity.

Here’s a look at our guest:

Rev. Maggie Oman Shannon is at the forefront of a peaceful revolution: choosing to live a handmade life, and slow down and disconnect. In her book, Crafting Calm, Maggie offers clarity, calm, and insight to a path of peace of mind by “making mindfulness.”

It’s no secret that stopping to smell the roses is good for us; today, millions of people are finding physical and mental health benefits in handwork, framing it as a spiritual practice. Maggie Oman Shannon tells us that we can literally “craft the crazy away” through beading and crocheting, candle-making, and collaging. In Crafting Calm, Shannon explores crafts and creativity as a spiritual practice that provides enormous benefits. By knitting love and hope into every stitch, handicrafts help form new friendships and communities. From making a desktop shrine or mini-Zen garden, to stringing intention beads and painting personal prayer flags, her intention is to help us to make mindfulness.

See you here..

JohnK 6/12/2013

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Out With the Clutter and In With the Good Chi- Day One

April 16, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

Okay, it’s time to roll up the sleeves and get going. I’m starting the de-clutter process in my office. No real surprise. I spend lots of time there, and it shows. Stuff on the desk, on the floor, and even stuff on the dining room table. If you want to be more focused AND productive you’ve got to get the clutter out of your work space.

Starting with the desk I take everything off of the desktop and out of the drawers. Here’s your chance to wipe down the desktop- when’s the last time you did that? Now, the stuff on and in the desk can be put on the floor. You’ll want to sort through it and toss everything you really don’t need. I mean, do you really need that mailbox coupon that offers 2 for 1 cheeseburgers at the local greasy spoon eatery? Now, when you’ve parted with the junk you’ve got to sort the saved stuff. I use folders of the kind you get during a 1-cent sale at Staples. Your system may be different, like maybe a filing cabinet setup. It’s a good idea to keep supplies and other items in designated drawers. Put labels on things if you must, but remember to have a dedicated spot for every item you decided to keep and make sure that it stays there, or goes back there when you’re done using it. I get lots of paper coming in every week. Before the papers pile up sort them each day – toss them or file them as you see fit. Just remember that whatever you do with your papers, DO NOT KEEP THEM ON TOP OF YOUR DESK. All you want on the surface of your desk is your phone, computer, and inbox, and maybe your favorite personal affects along with the documents you are working with at the moment.

Clutter can be a problem on the computer, too. Purge the programs, files and even desktop icons you don’t need. They slow down your machine and they make for visual clutter, too.

Information comes to us from more directions now than ever before. Get on top of it. Cut back on newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Limit your intake of radio and television. How much time are you spending on social networks? They can eat up your whole day. Limit your reading on these sites. No need to become a hermit. Just know when to “say when” and put some boundaries on yourself.

JohnK 4/16/2013

Overheard: “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

– Confucious

Slacks, Ties, and Video Tapes: Out with Your Clutter and In With the Good Chi!

April 15, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

Problems with our BlogTalkRadio post caused the Tammy Strobel interview to be pushed back to Saturday April 13th. We saw a similar snafu with the previous week’s Polly Campbell interview. It’s rare when we have these types of snags, but we’re caught up now. If you didn’t get to hear the shows you can catch them here:

Polly Campbell is the author of Imperfect Spirituality: Extraordinary Enlightenment for Ordinary People

Polly Campbell

Tammy Strobel is the author of You Can Buy Happiness (and it’s Cheap): How One Woman Radically Simplified Her Life and How You Can Too.

Tammy Strobel

Article:

I’m really getting into this de-clutter “thing”. This week I’ve managed to unload what seems like a lifetime worth of stuff, though there’s still a long way to go.

Excessive clutter can creep into every area of your life, like waiting to do your taxes until the final day (which just happens to be today!) It spills over into your total enjoyment of life. Clutter can steal your attention, be a physical and mental burden, and ratchet up the chaos in your life. Moving out your stuff can seem to be mission impossible if you don’t have some sort of plan for getting it done. This week I’m “chunking it”- concentrating on small steps each day.

Today I’m starting with the office. There are papers everywhere (research, you know!) Then the computer area. I gotta get to work. I’ll have a report on the office cleanup, and in fact I’ll update ya with posts this week. If I get any brainstorms on how to make this project go a little easier I’ll send them along.

Later

JohnK 4/15/2013

Overheard: “Eliminate physical clutter. More importantly, eliminate spiritual clutter.

~Terri Guillemets

Stalled on the Inspiration Superhighway? Get Your Bearings and Get Back on The Road to Fulfillment.

March 25, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

Our lives wind along a sometimes tricky web of avenues that take us from one segment of life to the next. For some the route includes clearly marked road signs and few hills. For others it’s not so easy to see where to go next. The destination is fulfillment- defined as ‘satisfaction or happiness as a result of fully developing one’s abilities or character.’ But figuring out which turn will put you on the direct road to fulfillment and the living of a genuine life may not be as obvious.

There are a lot of ways to uncover what the next road on your life path should be. If you are looking to follow that “faint inner voice” then it’s vital that you start asking questions. Often that inner voice will suggest that it’s time for change. At this point it is important that you go inside for answers since only you know what’s best for you. When you push past the limits of your comfort zone you gain more confidence and you are able to guage your personal growth.

It’s also a good time to take a look at where you’ve been so far. Those things that made up your list of needs and wants may not be serving you any more. Knowing this could shine a light on what you no longer want and more importantly what you might need to do next. This little rest stop is a good point to get a clear picture of your perfect future. Start listing ways to bring that future into form and in line with your intentions. Meditation is a favorite of mine. You may want to keep a vision board, or a journal. These can give you the courage and the insight to move toward the next segment of the life road that will be most satisfying.

Pull back the curtain of fear and inertia that keeps you from knowing which step to take next. With trust your path will make itself known. When you move past the fear and listen to yourself getting to that next step will become easier.

JohnK 3/25/2013

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A Barrel Full of Monkey Mind is No Fun- Meditation Can Quiet the Chatter

January 15, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

There you are, fretting over the state of your relationship, or worrying about an upcoming meeting at the office. Those voices in your head are back. It’s the usual chatter that has no rhyme or reason and keeps you totally confused and without real answers. It’s called the monkey mind, and it leaves you feeling as though you’re spinning in circles.

A good way to counter the frontal lobe free-for-all is to practice meditation. This gives you the chance to counter the noise by moving beyond thought. You can become the noticer- aware of your thoughts rather than thinking them. It sounds like the same thing, but there is a difference. When you notice your thoughts you can allow them to move on by without taking you with them. That calms the feeling of being pulled in so many directions. Concentration is key here. It will let you slow down the thought process and keep your attention on observation of those thoughts.

One method of working your concentration “muscles” is by paying attention to your breath during meditation. When the monkey mind begins its cranial chorus observe your thoughts and then return your focus to your breath. Breathing meditations differ. Some have you focus and the inhale and exhale and the movement of the abdomen. Others have you concentrate on the sound of the breath. Then there’s focusing on a candle flame as a way of reigning in the mind. Soften your gaze as you notice the color, shape, and movement of the flame, all the while trying not to blink. You can vary this by closing your eyes though you want to keep watching the flame in your mind.

It seems counterproductive when you realize that quieting your mind for meditation actually provides fertile soil for the mind chatter to take hold. Just remember to be kind to yourself and don’t give up. Meditation is often called “practice”, and continued practice will help you keep monkey mind to a minimum.

JohnK 1-15-2013

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