Mindful Lifestyle

by | May 31, 2017 | Blog

I think this post means we have talked about mindfulness in everyday life for an entire month.

Looking at my potential topic list, I could honestly go another 30 days, but I’d like to write about some other stuff.

So how do we pull this whole month together into a mindful lifestyle?

It all starts with being present, in this moment right here.

This is important, because it is the only place you have any sort of choice, and it’s the only thing that really exists. The past and the future and our hopes and dreams and thoughts and worries are all imagination, all happening in our heads.

The present is real.

Notice everything coming in through your five senses, without judgment.

Experience them without thinking about them.

Be aware of the stories your mind is telling you, without necessarily believing them.

Be aware of the stories your emotions are telling you, without necessarily believing them.

Ask yourself if you really need to be concerned with your mood, and if your mood is “true”.

There are always things to explore mindfully, with a friendly curiosity rather than a paranoid judgment.

The alarm clock.

Traffic.

Confrontation.

Conflict.

Social Media.

Work.

Play.

Everything. 

A mindful lifestyle allows us to do what we do, without all the stories and judgments.

It allows things to just be as they are.

It allows us to be free, if we want to be.

Thank you for being a part of this blog, I am continually grateful to everyone who takes the time to read and offer feedback.

Have a great day.

Mindful Workday

by | May 30, 2017 | Blog

There is no such thing as a routine day or one day being the same as any other.

There is infinite variation and diversity in everything we do, we just get dulled to it. The bagel you ate this morning was completely new, it’s just hard to see because you eat them everyday.

This is a trap that is especially easy to fall into at work because so many of us buy into the bullshit idea that we “have” to be there.

The only thing you have to do is die someday. Everything else is a choice, including going to work.

But because we fall into believing we have to be there, we go on autopilot to get through the day. This is a waste of the time we have on this planet, and it causes us to miss thousands of opportunities to be useful to others and inject meaning into every moment we have.

I really believe that my initial training to be a counselor started when I worked the front desk at hotels.

My whole life changed when I realized that every interaction with another person was worthwhile, and that I might be the only friendly face and conversation they encountered that day. It made everything worthwhile, kept me off of autopilot, and helped me be a good employee.

What are the things you do without thinking about them at work?

What opportunities are you missing to find meaning in how you earn a paycheck?

Do you ever forget that the people you work with (even the annoying customers) are actual human beings with deep, complicated and scary lives? What would change if you kept this in mind?

Mindful Morning Routine

by | May 29, 2017 | Blog

I think it is Tim Ferriss who I’ve heard say that if you own the morning, you own the day.

I doubt he’s the first or only person to say this, because there is a lot of truth to it. It seems like everyone who has a spiritual practice or a routine or ritual of any kind engages it first thing in the morning. There must be something to that.

I think how we spend our time matters, so it is important to me to give the first few minutes of my waking consciousness to things that matter.

To being mindful, to being grateful and to being intentional. I cannot exaggerate how much this has affected my days, and my life in general (gratitude is everything in and of itself, we’re about to do a series on that).

I meditate first thing, but it doesn’t have to be a formal practice if that’s not something you are looking for. Being mindful seems to be easier in the morning before everything kicks into high gear and while everything is just a little bit slower.

Have a specific time you get up every day.

Get out of bed with intention.

Notice the silence.

Feel your feet on the floor.

Hear the sound of the water as you make coffee or tea or whatever you drink.

Do something nice for them if you have people around you.

Clean something up, not judging it.

Stay off the internet.

Don’t look at your phone.

Leave the TV off.

Breathe.

Mindful Day Off

by | May 28, 2017 | Blog

I recently caught a lot of (loving and thoughtful) flack for saying that our pasts and our problems are in our imagination. Way back, I caught a lot of flack for saying weekends aren’t real and that the idea of days off is stupid.

I still believe this, but in a softer way. It makes me sad to think that we have bought into this idea that there are days that matter less than others, or that there are days we screw off and do whatever we want.

Every single day you live is subtracting from the time you have to be alive, and being alive is really cool.

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take time off or enjoy ourselves. I do it all the time, I love my life and enjoy all of it. It’s just important that we are mindful in how we spend this time off, or it can degenerate into being useless, and even harmful. I frequently talk to people whose time off winds up involving too much alcohol or weed or porn or Netflix or video games or sleep. These aren’t the hallmarks of skillful choices.

So take time off, but not from being intentional and mindful.

Take care of the things you need to take care of, and do them peacefully and joyfully.

Make a conscious choice about how you spend your day(s) off.

Go outside.

Get some exercise.

See other people in a meaningful way.

Go to a movie if you’re rich.

Learn something.

Put your phone in a drawer.

“No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as down time. All you got is life time. Go.”

Henry Rollins

Mindful Obstacles

by | May 27, 2017 | Blog

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t really see things in terms of good or bad or right or wrong.

Things are as they are, and if I cannot control or change them, I don’t really have any business putting value judgments on them. These things are part of nature or the universe or reality or God’s Will or my karma or simple chance, and sometimes shit happens. Whatever you want to call it, they are beyond me and are therefore beyond my opinion of them.

Understanding this is helpful when dealing with situations where things do not go my way, which happens often.

Problems arise when I take what would be most convenient for me, and start to believe that that is how things should be, when I assign this idea of rightness to what I want. It makes no sense, and it’s silly, and it causes nothing but suffering.

When I embrace everything as it is, obstacles become opportunities and problems become a matter of perspective. It’s simple.

What do you do when something gets in the way of what you want?

What are you labeling as should when it should really be want?

How different would things look if you accepted the things you cannot control?

If you really want to delve into this concept, check out The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday.

Have a great weekend.