Mindfulness concepts and meditation practices have a rich and diverse 25-century history. I was recently challenged to distill some of them into a 30-minute presentation for Mercy Cedar Rapids Hospice staff.
I recast meditation into pausing to make it more accessible, and then briefly described my path to mindfulness, three foundational concepts and finally three simple practices.
After a 45-year career focused on fixing and developing healthcare organizations, I came close to psychological and spiritual collapse due to eight very challenging experiences in less than one year. The “fixer” needed fixing. I tried several paths forward, before finding my way by returning to the contemplative practices of my youth.
I’ve found that a simple conceptual foundation to begin a contemplative life could include:
- Mindfulness is awareness. It is cultivated by “practicing paying attention, intentionally, without judgment, in the present moment, and sustaining that attention over time by repeatedly returning to it” (Jon Kabat-Zinn). Each of the above underlined elements is important.
- Your mind is inherently peaceful, but often doesn’t seem that way due to your mostly habitual reactions to conditions. Our typical moment-to-moment challenges are often not life’s inevitable changes, losses and griefs, but rather our thoughts about them.
- You are not your thoughts, just as you are not birds singing or cookies baking. Your mind is (mostly) another sense organ, like your ears and nose. It just doesn’t seem that way due to your thousands of thoughts per day, most of which are repetitive, or negative, or both. Your thoughts are so common, and your habitual reactions to them so ingrained, that you believe you are them. This excessive attachment to our thoughts can diminish us. With practice, you can unhook from repetitive and negative inner dialogue and move toward greater peace.
Simple practices
to
pause and create space
(not disengage)
- 4R
- Regard (just notice … what thought is occurring now and here?)
- Reflect (ask why has this thought arisen, then why, then why)
- Release (with no judgement—just let that thought go, like a soap bubble)
- Repeat (again and again, throughout every day)
- Gently greet your thought or emotion. For example, “Hello, anger.” But hold the emotion like a baby, not something to be conquered. It’s just a thought.
- “I am (angry, or an angry person)” versus, as the Old Irish language puts it, “(Anger) is on me.” Try changing from “am” to “is.”
In conclusion, your moment-to-moment experiences are largely determined by your mindset, so try practicing living a little more lightly. Increased awareness of your thoughts will reveal them to be experiences, not self-definitions. This requires practicing a practice, as you establish new habits that move you toward peace.
Victor Frankel, holocaust survivor, wrote: “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.”
If you would like to practice with the weekly Mindfulness at Prairiewoods group, please join us Mondays from 6:30–7:30 p.m. at Prairiewoods.
Good introductory books on mindfulness and meditation include: The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh and Catastrophic Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn. A good podcast is 10%Happier, hosted by Dan Harris.
Peace be with and in you.
—Ian Montgomery, Mindfulness at Prairiewoods facilitator
For more information about Mindfulness at Prairiewoods, visit our website.