What is mindfulness?
Originally added on 28th September 2011
Last updated on 3rd November 2011
Last updated on 3rd November 2011
M: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 12
“The genius of Tulku Urgyen was that he could point out the nature of mind with precision and matter-of-factness of teaching a person how to thread a needle and could get an ordinary meditator like me to recognize that consciousness is intrinsically free of self ... I came to Tulku Urgyen yearning for the experience of self-transcendence, and in a few minutes he showed me I had no self to transcend ... Tulku Urgyen simply handed me the ability to cut through the illusion of the self directly, even in ordinary states of consciousness. This instruction was, without question, the most important thing I have ever been explicitly taught by another human being. It has given me a way to escape the usual tides of psychological suffering - fear, anger, shame - in an instant.
” - Sam Harris
Yesterday we had the twelfth & final session of this "Life skills" evening class. There was scheduled to have been a bit less than a three month gap since the last - eleventh - session. However the heavy winter snow we'd experienced had resulted in this last session being postponed.
Antonio Damasio’s “Self comes to mind”: memory and the autobiographical self 1
Originally added on 10th January 2011
Last updated on 2nd February 2011
Last updated on 2nd February 2011
L: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 11
“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little coarse and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice? Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.
” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
K: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 10 (part 2 - therapeutic writing)
“ There is a crack in everything. That's where the light gets in. ” - Leonard Cohen
I wrote yesterday about the first part of this tenth "Life skills" evening. I particularly discussed development of Goodwill practice - very much in the "Nourishing positive states" section of the "Four aspects" diagram (below). In the second half of the evening we moved on to the "Exploring & processing" section of the diagram with the introduction particularly of various forms of therapeutic writing.
J: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 10 (part 1 - goodwill practice)
“ "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." ” - Thich Nhat Hanh
If you want others to be happy, practise compassion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion. Dalai Lama
I: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 9
“ The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. ” - Eden Phillpotts
Yesterday was the ninth evening of this "Life skills" training. I wrote about the eighth session last week. The sequence of regular weekly classes now moves on to increasing gaps between sessions - so it's three weeks until the tenth, a further five weeks until the eleventh, and then an additional eleven weeks until the final twelfth session. My hope is that we will be able to arrange occasional follow-up meetings even after that.
H: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 8
“ Education should be "not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire." ” - William Butler Yeats
G: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 7
“Do not think less of yourself, but think of yourself less.
” - C. S. Lewis
F: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 6
“ I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ” - William Penn
Yesterday we had the sixth session of this twelve evening "Life skills" course. I wrote last week about the fifth session. A dozen slides covering material we explored are viewable/downloadable at slides 1-6, Powerpoint or slides 1-6, PDF and slides 7-12, Powerpoint or slides 7-12, PDF.
