Mindfulness Exercise

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/mindfulness/2010/04/5-quotes-that-can-change-your-life/

Five Step Mindfulness Practice.

i) Get centered — Take a moment to just notice your body here, noticing any tension and seeing if you can choose to let that tension go. Become aware that you’re breathing. 


ii) Read the quote twice – Reading it twice allows it to settle in a bit more. 

iii) Allow the words to simmer — Close your eyes and see if you can let the words roll around and notice what arises for you physically, emotionally and mentally. In other words, let these words percolate in your mind and body. Do any thoughts, memories, or associations arise? Is there a tension or loosening in the body? Do emotions of fear, joy, or calm arise? Whatever arises this is grist for the mill. 

iv) Bring your mind back if it wanders — You may notice the mind going off into thoughts of what you need to be doing or judgments such as “how is this going to be helpful to me?” Just note where it wandered to and gently guide it back. Larry Rosenberg says repeat this step several times (book "Breath by Breath"). 

v) Come back to the breath – Thank yourself for taking this time-out of your daily busy-ness to engage with this mindful inquiry for your health and well-being.



Now Practice Mindful Reading using the following quotes:

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom” 

~ Victor Frankl

“Amidst the worldly comings and goings, observe how endings become beginnings.”
~ Tao Te Ching

“You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.”
~ Albert Einstein

“What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters to what lies within us.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Hence, there is a time to go ahead and a time to stay behind.
There is a time to breathe easy and a time to breathe hard.
There is a time to be vigorous and a time to be gentle.
There is a time to gather and a time to release.
Can you see things as they are
And let them be all on their own?"
~ Lao Tzu

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Turn, Turn, Turn

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. The Biblical text posits there being a time and place for all things: laughter and sorrow, healing and killing, war and peace, and so on. The lines are open to myriad interpretations, but as a song they are commonly performed as a plea for world peace, with an emphasis on the closing line: "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late." This line and the title phrase "Turn! Turn! Turn!" are the only parts of the lyric written by Seeger himself.