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
“ If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life. ” - Wu-Men
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
“"Knowledge is only rumour, until it is in the muscle."
” - New Guinea Proverb
K: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 10 (part 2 - therapeutic writing)
“ To stand and stare, to watch the rising sun, fills me with such calm happiness, I am sure I have dwindled away too much time on inessentials. ” - Diana Gault (when dying of cancer)
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)
“Never waste a good crisis.
” - Winston Churchill (attributed)
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 sky is the daily bread of the eyes.
” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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
“If a pickpocket meets a saint, all he sees are his pockets
” - Traditional
G: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 7
“In the Dzogchen teachings there’s an analogy to ringing a bell (to instantly see the illusory nature of the self). You briefly ring it and then the continuity of the sound evolves for as long as it will. And then you ring it again.
” - Sam Harris
F: Life skills for stress, health & wellbeing, session 6
“ Until lions have their historians, tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter. ” - African proverb
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.
