Dear ones,
I am recommending that you enroll in this wonderful, short, free course to help you learn and practice mindfulness. It is called Mindfulness Daily. It provides 10 to 15 minutes of guided teachings a day for 40 days. It is taught by two world renowned meditation teachers who both also used to be psychotherapists, Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. It can be accessed on the Sounds True webpage and free app. I really like their structured approach to teaching you about all the different things to which you can direct your mindful attention and different techniques. I also really like the free Plum Village app created by Thich Nhat Hahn and his monastics which has guided meditations and talks. There are some good teachers on the Insight Timer app, too, but not all teach mindful meditation. (There are lots of different types of meditation.)
I’d like to share some thoughts about mindfulness. As you know, all of life occurs in the present moment. In contrast to being here now, we often are “borrowing trouble” from the future or the past and are caught up in thoughts, worries or regrets. This is not to say we don’t need to analyze and plan sometimes, but we are often lost in thought and miss out on much of our life. We often live in a half-awake dream state imagining what might be and worrying over what is already over that we can not change. Mindfulness practice and mindful meditation are antidotes to these excessive mind habits.
Mindfulness is:
Warmly,
Lisa Cottrell, LPC
I am recommending that you enroll in this wonderful, short, free course to help you learn and practice mindfulness. It is called Mindfulness Daily. It provides 10 to 15 minutes of guided teachings a day for 40 days. It is taught by two world renowned meditation teachers who both also used to be psychotherapists, Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. It can be accessed on the Sounds True webpage and free app. I really like their structured approach to teaching you about all the different things to which you can direct your mindful attention and different techniques. I also really like the free Plum Village app created by Thich Nhat Hahn and his monastics which has guided meditations and talks. There are some good teachers on the Insight Timer app, too, but not all teach mindful meditation. (There are lots of different types of meditation.)
I’d like to share some thoughts about mindfulness. As you know, all of life occurs in the present moment. In contrast to being here now, we often are “borrowing trouble” from the future or the past and are caught up in thoughts, worries or regrets. This is not to say we don’t need to analyze and plan sometimes, but we are often lost in thought and miss out on much of our life. We often live in a half-awake dream state imagining what might be and worrying over what is already over that we can not change. Mindfulness practice and mindful meditation are antidotes to these excessive mind habits.
Mindfulness is:
- to be aware and awake to the present moment and life as it is
- to know what you are thinking, feeling and doing moment to moment, with an attitude of openness and non-judgment.
- to practice touching life deeply in every moment.
- to bring our body and mind in harmony while we wash the dishes, drive the car, take our shower, and communicate with others.
- To reduce suffering and increase wellbeing
- To increase control of your attention and choices
- To improve your mental and physical health as proven by lots of research
- To experience reality more clearly as it is
- Experience interconnection and oneness
- Connect to wisdom and intuition
- Experience freedom in the moment
Warmly,
Lisa Cottrell, LPC