» 9 Mindfulness Rituals to Make Your Day Better :zenhabits “Smile, breathe and go slowly.” - Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist monk Post written by Leo Babauta. Are you simply moving through your day, without fully living? I did this for many years. But today isn’t preparation for tomorrow. Fully live today by being mindful. You don’t need to do all of these, but give a few of them a try to see if they make your day better. Mindfulness Rituals Ritual isn’t about doing a routine mindlessly. Here are a few of my favorites: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. These rituals aren’t the only time you should be mindful, but they’re great reminders.
Meditation for Beginners: 20 Practical Tips for Quieting the Mind Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Todd Goldfarb at the We The Change blog. Meditation is the art of focusing 100% of your attention in one area. The practice comes with a myriad of well-publicized health benefits including increased concentration, decreased anxiety, and a general feeling of happiness. Although a great number of people try meditation at some point in their lives, a small percentage actually stick with it for the long-term. The purpose of this article is to provide 20 practical recommendations to help beginners get past the initial hurdles and integrate meditation over the long term: 1) Make it a formal practice. 2) Start with the breath. 4) Meditate with Purpose. 5) Notice frustration creep up on you. 6) Experiment. 7) Feel your body parts. 8) Pick a specific room in your home to meditate. 9) Read a book (or two) on meditation. is terrific for beginners. 10) Commit for the long haul. 11) Listen to instructional tapes and CDs. 13) Make sure you will not be disturbed.
Mindfulness: What’s the POINT? The brain loves to chunk information in order to remember things and there are so many great acronyms that help us remember to bring mindfulness into our lives. I’m going to list a few really key ones and then link you to respective guided practices or posts as a reference to play with them and bring them into your life. Finally, I’m going to introduce you to a new powerful acronym that gets to the point of mindfulness. STOP (Stop, Take a breath, Observe your experience and Proceed) This is an all time favorite. RAIN (Recognize, Allow, Inquire, Non-identify/Natural Awareness) This acronym created by Michelle McDonald and popularized and adapted by Tara Brach, is incredible for helping us gain perspective, self-compassion and confidence with our difficult feelings. ACE – (Awareness, Collect, Expand) SAFE (Soften, Allow, Feel, Expand) This is a newer acronym from Uncovering Happiness that helps us find strength and confidence through vulnerability. Warmly, Elisha
There's a Word for That: 25 Expressions You Should Have in Your Vocabulary Recently I came across this amazing little Tumblr named ‘OtherWordly‘ – itself a play on words. It consists of a collection of strange and lovely words from different languages through different times. What I like most about this selection of consonants and vowels – little meaning-carrying packages of vibration – is that they all try to point to the unspeakable, the transient or the neglected. That which we forget in the busyness of our daily grind. Words have the power to remind us – and therefore we should choose our words carefully so we are reminded of the things that nourish our souls. You can find my favourite words below – pick five that resonate most, write them down, yes seriously – go grab a pen -, make sure to learn them by heart, teach them to your inner voice and share them with others to guide our collective attention to what truly matters. 1 – Sophrosyne 2 – Vorfreude pronunciation | ‘for-froi-duh 3 – Numinous 4 – Nemophilist pronunciation | ne-‘mo-fe-list 5 – Sillage
Ten Things To Do When You Feel Like Crap The Daily Chore That Can Increase Mental Stimulation and Decrease Anxiety When done properly, the chore decreased nervousness by 27% and increased mental inspiration by 25%. Mindful dishwashing can decrease stress and calm the mind, a new study finds. People in the study focused on the smell of the soap, the feel and shape of the dishes to help them enter a mindful state. Doing the dishes in a mindful way also increased the pleasurable feeling of time slowing down, the researchers found. Mr Adam Hanley, the study’s first author, said: “I’ve had an interest in mindfulness for many years, both as a contemplative practitioner and a researcher.I was particularly interested in how the mundane activities in life could be used to promote a mindful state and, thus, increase overall sense of well-being.” In the study 51 people were split into two groups. One group did the dishes in their normal way — most likely while letting their minds wander to the usual anxieties. The other group were encouraged to focus on the sensory experience of washing the dishes.
Expressions & Sayings Index If you prefer to go directly to the meaning and origin of a specific expression, click on its relevant entry in the alphabetical list below. Use this alphabet to speed up your search: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Beyond Hacking Your Habits The essence of mindfulness is training the mind to recognize unconscious reactions, so that we may move out of autopilot and into more adaptive responding. Once you start Hacking Your Habits, there are three simple processes to practice undermining autopilot. Mindful-Mastery Mantra Moving from Awareness to Effectiveness Just as each component on the dashboard of your car indicates a particular need for care, each component of your internal experience does too. 3 Steps to Practice: Validate – Check – Change Step I: Validate Emotions The Skill. To validate is not to approve, condone or cheer lead. The Mix Up: Humans naturally want to feel more good feelings, and get rid of the difficult feelings. Barriers to Practice. But, as we have learned, our emotion regulation system is a Paradox. The Practices. PAUSE: Notice that you are feeling triggered.Find the verbal label for the emotion. Step II: Check Thoughts The Skill. There are two ways to effectively check thoughts; 1. The Mix Up. The Mix Up.
How Ancient Cultures Used Healing Crystals And Stones As written by Stephanie Lucas on QuantumStones| “In a crystal we have clear evidence of the existence of a formative life principle, and though we cannot understand the life of a crystal, it is nontheless a living being”. This is a quote from his work “The Problem of Increasing Human Energy” by Nikola Tesla written in the year 1900. Crystals have been thought to be alive and possess healing powers, and many ancient cultures took this to be just another fact of life. Today, we understand that all things in the universe are forms of energy with their own vibration – including crystals. Nikola Tesla declared this concept as the key to understanding the universe and proved how certain forms of energy can alter the vibrational resonance of other forms of energy. The ancients didn’t have access to the enlightening scientific information that we have today concerning the power of healing crystals. Roman Culture: Talismans and amulets of crystal were typical amongst Romans. Share and Enjoy
How To Make Your Mind Happy: 5 Secrets To Mindfulness Sometimes it seems like your brain just sits around creating lousy feelings and worries. You want this, you’re frustrated about that, you’re annoyed about some other thing and the list never stops. And it makes it impossible to be happy. What would be nice is to have a perspective that helps your brain deal with all of these negative emotions. Three big names in the field have collaborated to produce an app that can teach you how to be more mindful. Dan Harris is the anchor of Good Morning America and author of 10% Happier, where he recounts his journey from mindfulness skeptic to believer. Now here’s the part where I give you an actual definition of mindfulness, right? You and I are gonna walk through the first few steps on how to be more mindful so you don’t just sound like Merriam-Webster, but you really understand what the deal is and how to do it. So what’s a good place to start? 1) Watch Your Mind For 5 Minutes It just ping-pongs all over the place. 2) You Are Not Your Thoughts Tags: