Hello everyone

I have just been reading some posts old and new and have found very interesting to see how different people interpret mindfulness and can make it work for them.

My plan is to simply practice my breathing and when I feel my own thoughts are overwhelming me to just focus on one thought or one object and to be in the moment.

I realise this is very easy for many people reading this but it isn’t for me so I am going to track my progress.

Hey Quirky,

Best of luck with that. Hope you manage to conquer mindfulness.

Dools

I will never conquer but I get so much advice that I should try so I am , ok have not started yet, it is only a plan!!

I can do plans but doing it is hard and often ends in frustration for mindfullness and. other tasks!,

Hey Quirky and all reading,

I'm sorry if my words above may seem a little rude, cynical and mocking. If so, then I was being judgemental of my own strengths, not those of others.

One step at a time right! The main thing is at least you have a plan! That is better than having no idea at all.

I do wish you well and hope you can find strategies that assist and help you.

I know I need to keep practising these types of things so they become second nature and are there to help me when I need them. I don't do that step so well!

So once again I wish you all the best and do so hope you find success, even if it is a little at a time!

Cheers from Dools

Dear Dools, Quirky and all...

The word mindfulness is another word for paying attention to what your doing and to concentrate on the job your doing when you’re doing it...

A job even sweeping a floor can be done mindfully (paying attention to what your doing)...instead of thinking of other things while sweeping the floor...I mean when sweeping your floor..look at the design of the floor, the amount of dirt, dust etc you’ve collected...the way the bristles of the broom moves with each sweep....Goes for everything we do..whether we are sitting outside, cleaning the bathroom, sweeping the floors, making our beds, having a shower, cooking and eating some food...reading, knitting, drawing.....While we do all these things, we need to only think very consciously about what we are doing and think of nothing else....by thinking on the job, hobby or sitting outside or whatever we are doing....putting our full attention on what we are doing at the time...That’s considered mindfulness, because our thoughts, attention are only on the thing we are doing at that particular moment in time....

I have learnt that it’s very much impossible for our minds to be able to think of 2 things at a time...Yes we can be sweeping while our minds are racing on different thoughts..that’s because we are not fully concentrating on sweeping the floor....We are just automatically sweeping it...So to turn those thoughts of..start thinking and being mindful and fully concentrate on the job you are doing....

Hoping everyone’s day is the best it can be..

My love, care and hugs to everyone reading or posting here..

Grandy..

Hi all,

Yes! Agree Grandy, and you put it well.
I would add that involving all 5 (or 6) senses also helps to focus in the moment. By observing sounds, for eg. and I think you have commented before about that Grandy, listening to the birds whilst enjoying a cuppa.
smells. Although perhaps not whilst sweeping as it may be dusty!

Touch. The feel of the broom. The texture of the bristles making contact with the floor.
even rhythm I guess. I am reminded of karate kid- wax on, wax off!

all these things help anchor us in the moment.
the mind is tricky, and will try to convince me that I can do more, by rushing around. By doing one thing while thinking about another

I have come to the conclusion that this leads to dis-ease.

Cheers,

J*

Hello everyone,

I had my first experience of snow recently in my street.

I worked and looked at the snow and how it covered plants and trees and objects. I was in the moment despite the cold and felt calm.

Has any had extreme weather help them to concentrate, ?

Hello everyone...🤗..

I feel really calm when it rains, I work and listen to it..thunderstorms that are active over the mountains in the not too far distance is beautiful to watch....

I read something today that made some sense to me..

If your constantly thinking of depressive thoughts....then in reality you are actually in a way meditating with them....So better to throw those thoughts out and meditate with positive thoughts....I know that it can be hard to do that..so why do we “meditate “ with our negative thoughts?

Kind thoughts beautiful people..

Grandy...

Hi everyone,

I think this is a very helpful thread.

I am on a journey to practice mindfulness, I have noticed that I have a bad habit of thinking ahead to the 'next thing'.

For example I'm at the movies enjoying what I'm watching and then during that I am already thinking about what the next plan is and the plan after that. I really want to learn how to be 'in the moment' and not have my mind fast forward all the time

hi missep

i reckon noticing that habit shows mindfulness. good stuff!

Missep

i too think about what I need to do next. I call it planning but I guess I miss out on being in the present.

sleepy I agree noticing you do it is a good habit, I just did it.

@Missep - not sure how long you have been trying it out. I found a need to do it with someone talking to me (like a guide meditation) otherwise I would get easily distracted. With that said... if you do get distracted that is OK. You can only do the best you can and that is all that matters. You do not have to do it perfectly.

Hi all,

I think we meditate on our less positive thoughts becos it’s a habit! And habits are hard to break. Sometimes I can feel justified in this type of thoughts too. I am averse to bring a Pollyanna, just for the sake of it! If you know what I mean.
Buuuttt- it can be a lovely break, almost a holiday, to choose to stop thinking those negative, self punishing thoughts, step to the side and just ..... think differently. What helps me is to ID what it is that I like about someone else and then imagine that they are thinking my thoughts for me. A different way of being your own best friend, I guess.

I guess it’s all pretty normal, or else we would all be enlightened beings!

cheers,

J*

Hi all!

I think it's so awesome that we are all supporting each other through this.

I tried practicing mindfulness today and my mind wasn't racing as it usually would to the next plan. I liked this feeling I hope that I can continue trying to hold on to this!

Hello everyone..

missep, I am so pleased to hear that you are practicing mindfulness...and you liked how it made you feel....That’s awesome....The more we practice the more easier it is to calm our body and slow down those racing thoughts....

Well done..I hope you continue to get that feeling you liked..more and more...

My kind thoughts everyone..

Grandy..

just a small side excursion... Listening to a podcast today about the psychological benefits of walking. I won't go into the details but the interesting part was that it also turned into a guided meditation of a sort that started on your breath, then feet, legs hips and upper body. Noticing the feeling but not be judgemental. Observing. Feeling. Noticing. Smelling. Hearing. It did not really matter whether you are in a forest or concrete jungle.

Thank you for your kind words Grandy!

Smallwolf- that is a really great idea. I tend to get distracted or listen to my music so I will try to take some walks where I will focus on really experiencing (observing, feeling, smelling). Thank you for posting that!

In hi I wonder if anyone uses mindulness so they can cope with lockdown.

I find neighbours shouting ,

people on the radio seem stressed.

so I need to de-stress.

Any ideas using mindfulness.

Hi Q,

Don't know if this helps... not sure what you listen to on the radio but you could swap the radio for podcasts. That will only help you to avoid listening the stressful stuff on the radio. To be honest I don't listen to the radio and watch very little TV. I have found TV "news" repetitive and gives worst case scenarios. Radio.... ???? And headphones can get rid of external noises.

Podcasts I listen to are things like "Hidden Brain" or "How to fail" and I can listen to these while doing other things. These might not be the mindful related things to listen to but work for me.

I practice by writing so...

Mindfulness might be the following...

My mindfulness scale is 1 to 10.

If I notice I am threatened by a large angry man 1 metre away from me who is shouting at me, then I am mindful10. Such that mindful10 is very easy to notice!

If I notice I am threatened by a small babies loud voice whilst in the shopping centre, I am mindful5. Such that I might be under real threat or not when I react startled to the noise.

If after being startled by a babies loud voice, I regulate myself back to calm and controlled, then I am mindful10.

If I notice I am not threatened by a quiet gentle person, then I am mindful5. Because a quiet gentle person has hurt me before, but many quiet gentle persons have been nice to me before.

If I notice I am not threatened by a normal tone of voice, then I am mindful8, because I consider normal tone of voice the optimal tone of voice for most situations.

Then after writing those down, reflecting along the way, I pause and reassess rationally and emotionally.

david'n'goliath said:

Then after writing those down, reflecting along the way, I pause and reassess rationally and emotionally.

And my metacognitive reaction to my post direct post above about mindfulness is all the way deep inside me and wants to be expressed in the original terminology I learned the concept from... i.e. dad.

I'm not bullshitting.

But myself today, after decades of practice of those processes I simply have to acknowledge that people react to that core statement "I'm not bullshitting." in a variety of ways.

Some will consider it a swear word and .....

So when I say, I'm not bullshitting, I am expressing a fundamental, like I am not even BS'ing myself, not attempting any manipulation, being brutally honest metacognitively.

So one might say that "I'm not BS'ing" means to others "I"m saying the truth to my utmost ability.".

So, mindfulness is not merely about ourselves, but about the reactions of others also.

I am mindful of what I say so that I do not provoke others. A true survival need in high risk situations.

I don't know if this would be considered 'active' mindfulness but when I play video games I can't help but concentrate fully especially since there is a lot going on. I have always been curious about this! Sometimes I have a short attention span but when I play games it's a bit difference.

Would love to know everyone's thoughts!

Hello Everyone...🤗.

missep...I can play internet games for hours at a time without thinking of anything else....I think it’s a type of mindfulness because it keeps our minds off everything else..

Although I’m a bit ashamed of me filling my time with these games...at the same time happy to play them to give my mind a “holiday” from pestering unhealthy thoughts..

Grandy..

Hi Everyone,

To me, mindfulness is, when your mind starts to wander off to unimaginable things, and you yell out "Hey brain! Stop right there and come back this instant! We need to deal with what's infront of us now and not what's ahead/behind of us!" I found it really useful when I think back to my past, or when I'm worried about people around me judging me or not knowing what to say in a social environment.

Playing video games certainly sounds like a form of mindfulness, as you're focused on the game and what's in front of you. I like to play video games as well to take my mind off things and take a break from my thoughts too. Like Ggrand, it's like a "holiday" for the mind.

Jt

Hi everyone!

Thank you Ggrand and jtjt_4862, it was nice to read that I'm not the only one! I definitely have to work on the mindfulness where I don't let the mind wander to negative thoughts and stay there. I have to admit that I haven't meditated for a while! When I was very stressed with a previous job I used mindful meditation a lot but then now when I see the videos I used it reminds me of that stressful job. I want to start changing that association!

Dear Blondguy Paul~

I'm unsure if you attend this thread you started regularly, I hope you do as I wish to send you my sincere sympathy over the loss of your companion Prince.

Prince was a wonderful friend to have, and nothing I can say will make up for the loss.

As someone who depends upon my pets myself maybe I can get a small glimpse of what you may be feeling.

I hope in the future you may have comfort and solace again, you deserve it.

Croix

Hi Quirkywords.

I read the other day that one of the worldwide founders of the 'Mindfulness' movement is now regretting that he made the process seem so complicated. He is now saying that 'Mindfulness' should be regarded as simply 'Paying Attention'. Some of my friends who are very capable and intelligent (Doctors etc) let their minds graze over so many things at the same time that they are dangerous to bike ride with - wobbling, not seeing pot holes, not anticipating danger eg car on side road etc.

So he is now saying perhaps 'Mindfulness' should have a new description and call it 'Paying Attention'. In other words focus on what you are actually doing. If your mind wanders, stop it! How often do we hear people who may have had an accident say 'I wasn't thinking about what I was doing!".

Hi The Bro,

I am so glad you posted that! Paying attention is something that I definitely want to be doing. I am either consumed by a task or constantly running through a checklist in my head of what I am meant to be doing next, while I am doing the task. You highlighted people who let their minds graze over and therefore miss what is right in front of them! I am that person sometimes. I have definitely been trying to work on this though. If I feel my mind racing ahead I try to pull myself back and think, okay do this first and then...