Mindful Boston

Writing about mindfulness is interesting. Reading blogs about mindfulness is interesting. Researching the effects of mindfulness is interesting.  Finding out how other people are using mindfulness for healing is interesting. Seeing how educators are bringing mindfulness into classrooms is interesting. But what about actually being mindful?  During mindfulness practice itself there are endless expanses of boredom. Sure, there's lots of great stuff too.  There are plenty of perks to doing your mindfulness practice.  But it is very rarely as interesting as other activities.  For example, this very second.  Take a moment to notice.  As far as - interesting - goes, is it more interesting to be on your computer right now reading blogs and surfing the net...  or would it be more interesting to go sit in a dark corner alone and notice the rhythm of your breath?      ??? The truth is that mindfulness practice is pretty boring com...

There is a lot of hope in this season of early spring.  I hear people mentioning the pretty flowers and the returning sunlight. There is also the Christian and pagan concept of returning from the dead at this time, around the Easter holiday.  There is a celebration at the springtime affirmation of life. And, there is also an aspect to this blossoming that is not usually talked about in polite circles.  With mindfulness of the full spectrum of experience, I am also aware of the pain of springtime.  The winter is associated with forms of hibernation, and even forms of death. So there can be negativity about the winter.  And yet, there are aspects of hibernation that are comforting.  Primarily, I am thinking of the withdrawal from the stressful aspects of life. Deadening one's feelings can be a way of handling stress.  The liquor industry, for example, is based on the human tendency to "check-out" and deaden sensations.  The spring means re-engag...

 I logged onto FaceBook , and found this conversation on one of my friend's pages: JP  Thursday at 8:15pm Survived the stresses of public speaking without needing alcohol, but I will cop to a medicinal cupcake. Nom nom. G  Thursday at 9:27pm Medicinal cupcake? JP  Thursday at 9:34pm  Self-medicating. :-P ML  Thursday at 10:00pm Ask your baker about Confection (TM). Side effects may include frosting on the nose. If this occurs for more than 4 hours, please consult a napkin. JP Thursday at 10:29pm  Confection (TM) used in moderation can be part of a healthy diet. If you find that you're overly reliant on Confection (TM), please consult a physician and look into alternative stress relief techniques such as Mindful Boston (TM). ML  Thursday at 10:50pm  Adult dosage: one or two Confections (TM) may be taken with milk or coffee. Do not exceed a maximum of four in a twenty-four hour period. Overdose may result in bulging midsect...

Mindful Bostonians, are you hiding in your house?  I do recommend going out into the snow.  Yes, the novelty has worn off.  And no, it's not going to be all that much different from the last foot of snow that dumped on us. But go out into the snow.  Feel the cold yet again, but for this time.  In December I did a four day silent meditation retreat.  Four days of sitting can be grueling. (The way that four heavy winter storms can be grueling.) It was a Zen retreat, and the tradition is that one person gets up and recites some Buddhist wisdom periodically.  In the afternoon of the 3rd day, her voice echoed in the meditation hall, " DO NOT SQUANDER YOUR LIFE. " I can still hear the echo of those words now. This is it.  This is what we've got.  Right now it's snow.  It's record breaking amounts of snow burying us, and our cars, and our plans, and our travels.  Don't miss it.  This is your life.  Be present with the s...

I looked up from this screen to see snowflakes the size of small birds falling from the sky.  No one of a mindful ilk could resist.  I jumped up and ran out the door. There are movies these days with cheesy CGI versions of locusts or other swarms.  I looked up into a sky filled in real-life with a kazillion 3-inch diameter snowballs.  The entire sky.  Filled.  Surreal, and real. I tried catching the snowballs.  They were very thin and lightly constructed.  Caught with my coat-sleeve, they burst into snow powder.  Caught with my hand, they delicately melted away.  I went inside to pull on my snowsuit and boots, then went out the back to my hammock, dumped the bed of snow off the hammock, and laid down looking up into the sky.  Immediately ice drops stung my eyes and choked me making me shift position. Once I shifted to a semi-upright pose for the sake of my breathing, I stayed still in the cold and watched the snow balls shif...

I’ve run across some folks who have gotten the impression from magazine articles that   Mindfulness practice is a cure for suffering.   They have an impression that there is a choice we can make between living a life like Disneyland and living a life of despair.   But that choice is not available to us.   Jon Kabat-Zinn named his book on Mindfulness Full Catastrophe Living.   To me, that succinctly describes life as a combination of both Disneyland and despair mixed up like scrambled eggs.   There is no way to separate them.   You either eat the scrabbled eggs with all the ingredients, or you don’t.   Human life is a full catastrophe.   It includes ecstasy, victories, and fun games.   It also includes despair, defeat, and boredom.   We can’t pick and choose one set of ingredients over the others.   We either live it all, or we shut down and don’t experience any of it.   Most of us separate from living the full exper...

Mindfulness is not a technique to help you stop feeling bad feelings. I will say it again. Mindfulness is not a technique to help you stop feeling bad feelings. Mindfulness is a technique to help you accept the truth of what you do feel.  What you feel right now is valid.  Sometimes what you feel is despair. Sometimes what you feel is panic.  It is valid to feel that.  Sometimes what you feel is pleasure.  Sometimes what you feel is joy.  It is valid to feel that. Is your sadness unacceptable to you? If yes, you do have the option of distracting yourself, or taking a pill, or any one of a number of ways to change things. But if you are practicing mindfulness, you will start by accepting that you judge sadness (or joy) as unacceptable.  And then, taking your time, perhaps over the course of years, you will come to understand the conditioning that led you to judge sadness (or joy) in that way.  And then, taking your time, perhaps over the ...