Looking for a Rufous

Merriam-Webster: The quality or state of being mindful; the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis; also, such a state of awareness.

I was watching a piece on 60 Minutes about “mindfulness”, and I thought I’d share some insights that might interest you. The link to the 60 Minutes broadcast is below.

If you look in my blog under Things to Think About, I posted “Doing Nothing: It Might Save Your Life” in October of last year. I admitted to being a Type A personality. I also admit to not being an expert on stress reduction or someone who practices yoga on a regular basis. However, I am learning about how important it is to lighten up, loosen up, and simplify my lifestyle, and hopefully to practice mindfulness spontaneously, which is the point of this blog post.

Rather than try to summarize the Anderson Cooper piece that aired on 60 Minutes on December 14, 2014, I’m providing the link to the script of the video about the mindfulness retreat and Cooper’s dialog with Jon Kabat-Zinn.

I guess for me the main take-aways were Kabat-Zinn’s ideas on mindfulness and how practicing it can help a person reduce stress, be healthier, and lead a more contented and happy life.

Here are a few more take-aways before I close, not my original ideas but quotes from others and ideas from other sources.

• From a relative’s blog: “. . . if we wake up every morning and dedicate ourselves to doing and being good, this brief practice will no doubt lead to positive results. Through defining your intention for the day, your actions will have better results”.
• From a Buddhist teacher named Kongtrul Rinpoche: “We are born with built-in abilities toward self-reflection and self-awareness which are our tools for personal growth”.
• Last but not least, something that Kabat-Zinn said during interviews with Anderson Cooper about practicing mindfulness. It’s not in the script, but it was something to the effect – “If you’re thinking its something you should start practicing, you’re missing the point. It’s not a big should, it’s not like, oh, now I gotta do one more thing that I have to put in my life, that I have to be mindful. It’s not a doing but a being, and being doesn’t take time”.

Websites: http://www.mindfulnesscds.com/

Tags: affirmations, doing nothing, feeling, feeling good, fulfillment, mindful, Relaxation, stress reduction

This entry was posted on December 21, 2014 at 5:30 am and is filed under People and Places, Random Reflections, Things to Think About. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.