What is mindfulness?
Last updated on 3rd November 2011

When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
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.
Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.
- Aristotle
It might be well for all of us to remember that, while differing widely in the various little bits we know, in our infinite ignorance we are all equal. - Karl Popper
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.

A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. - Anonymous
If you want others to be happy, practise compassion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion. Dalai Lama
The data is friendly.
- Anon
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.
Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul. - Douglas MacArthur
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. - Dalai Lama
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
- Einstein
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.