Explore your inner world
Explore your inner world
Contemplative practices are present in all contemplative traditions, and although there are differences when it comes to meditation, contemplative teachers within the varied traditions all point to the same thing. Within the Catholic tradition, one of these teachers is Saint Francis de Sales, a Doctor of the Universal Church who lived between 1567 and 1622. […]
Patience and Persistence: Two Pillars of Mindfulness Read More »
When teaching mindfulness meditation in a secular context, I often encounter situations where people struggle with the nuanced understanding of secularism. Frequently, I am asked whether individuals who are Christian, Muslim, Jewish or hold other beliefs can attend the sessions, as there is sometimes a misconception that these practices are exclusively Buddhist. Additionally, some participants
Is There a Place for God in Secular Mindfulness Meditation? Read More »
In the face of provocation, staying silent might be the most immediate appropriate thing to do, not to escalate a situation. Sometimes, maintaining composure and refraining from reacting impulsively to a provocation can be enough to momentarily de-escalate a situation. A moment of silence can be helpful in recollecting ourselves and bringing awareness to emotional
Mindful Silence Needs Wisdom Read More »
During meditation, practitioners are usually instructed to either sit with a lowered soft gaze or close their eyes. We discussed this in a previous article on “Meditation: Eyes Open or Eyes Closed” and how practising with eyes open might be difficult initially because of the tendency to get lost in visual distractors. Sprawson et al.
“And Now Close Your Eyes or Lower Your Gaze” Read More »
Meeting Anger with Awareness and Compassion by Clayton Micallef “Turn to that place in you that knows you are angry. What knows you are angry is itself not angry.” by Ken McLeod Read on Substack
Meeting Anger with Awareness and Compassion Read More »
Embedded Post Right Now, Is My Life by Clayton Micallef “When it comes right down to it, the challenge of mindfulness is to realize that ‘this is it.’ Right now, is my life.” – by Jon Kabat-Zinn Read on Substack
Right Now, Is My Life Read More »
In answering the question if mindfulness practice can lead to an embodied wisdom, it is best to start with the foundation of why we practice meditation. Primarily we meditate to cultivate mindfulness which is conducive to us being more aware of what we experience. 3 dimensions of mindfulness Purser and Milillo (2014) have put forth the argument that mindfulness
Can Mindfulness Lead to an Embodied Wisdom? Read More »
The analogy of two farmers is a story explaining how cultivating mindfulness as an open quality of awareness in our everyday life can be of help. This post is a revisiting of a previous post with the difference that it includes a video and a further reflection on the previous one. Mindfulness technique and
Cultivating Mindfulness: The Analogy of Two Farmers Read More »
A large-scale study found that Universal School-based mindfulness training did not appear to improve students’ well-being or mental health (Kuyken et al., 2022). Previously research had indicated that students and youth attending mindfulness in schools benefited to some degree from mindfulness practice (Carsely et al., 2018; Johnson et al., 2016; Kuyken, et al., 2013). Although
The Universal use of Mindfulness in Schools not Recommended, Study Finds Read More »
Stress can drain our mental resources, and during challenging times we can end up stuck in our habitual patterns of reacting. Because of such repeated patterns of responding, we might, at times, react mindlessly to situations presenting themselves. This might not be a skilful way to deal with situations that require us to stop and
Taking a Mindful STOP Practice Read More »
In our previous post on being “non-judgemental”, we looked at the workings of the “judging mind” and how an overtly judgemental mind can be very taxing and controlling and can leave you feeling stuck in life. Meditation, through the cultivation of mindfulness, presents an alternative to such a mode of existence through the application of an
Non-Judgemental (Part 2): What Does It Mean To Be Non-Judgemental? Read More »
Is this good bad or neutral? Most of the time, we go through our days judging our life experiences, the people we encounter, ourselves and our actions. So I asked myself this question – “Am I judgemental?” – “Could it be that being judgemental is our default setting?” Personally, in today’s connected world many times
Non-Judgemental (Part 1): Is Being judgemental our default setting? Read More »
Image credit to BD Hypno Plus Mindfulness is the first step the vehicle through which we become mindful. Mindfulness is like a light that shines out in the dark, allowing us to become mindfully aware of our thoughts and feelings. How these affect our behaviour towards ourselves, other people and our surroundings. Mindfulness and being
STOP – What does mindfulness and being mindful mean? Read More »
“A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind” (Killingworth & Gilbert, 2010, p. 932). This was the concluding statement of a study on mind wondering which found that we spend as much as 50% of our lives lost in thinking. This can have negative effects on our mental,
Finding a Suitable Anchor of Attention in Meditation Read More »
Recently I was asked by someone why do you practice mindfulness? Personally, I do not subscribe to the notion that I practice mindfulness. In essence, formally I practice meditation which is conducive to the cultivation of mindfulness. As in essence within the formal practice of meditation mindfulness is one of the faucets cultivated through such
Why Do You Practice Mindfulness? Read More »
The tale of the two farmers reminds me of when a friend asked me what is mindfulness? His question was so spontaneous that it caught me off guard. That day what spontaneously came to mind was practically the analogy of the two farmers. Ploughing the field Two farmers set out ploughing their field. While ploughing
The Two Farmers: A Mindfulness Analogy Read More »