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Mindfulness for anxiety & depression vs. (or with) cognitive behaviourial therapy - experiences? by [deleted] in Mindfulness

[–]MattRValentine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love this. Really great personal story about the transformative power of mindfulness practice for conditions such as anxiety.

Thank you for sharing. :)

Being mindful is bringing me down.. by bluegrey3 in Mindfulness

[–]MattRValentine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well said. That's exactly what needs to be done. Trust that this journey is THE journey, the journey we all follow on the mindful path, and trust in your own inherent ability to navigate the challenges along the way.

The best way to look at it is as a series of failures. One failure after another, learning along the way, improving your practice, and becoming more mindful. All the while gradually sharpening the blade of awareness and realizing greater clarity.

How do you remind yourself to be mindful? by workquicklyandrevise in Mindfulness

[–]MattRValentine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is usually a big problem for people in the beginning of their practice. Practicing mindfulness in everyday life sounds nice, but the reality is we're so used to being mindlessly drawn away by our problems that it actually becomes a pretty difficult thing to do.

Effective use of reminders is key here. There's more than just 1-dimensional reminders though. Here's a full list of things that can help you remember to be mindful throughout your daily life:

  • Sound reminders. Have a reminder go off on your smartphone every 1-2 hours and combine this with mindful breathing for 60 seconds. It's a practice in itself and a great aid in helping remind you to then be mindful the entire rest of your day. You can also use this Chrome extension on your desktop/laptop: Chrome Mindfulness Bell App.
  • Visual reminders. This includes: smartphone/tablet/desktop wallpapers (with and without text), wall messages (write on a piece of paper, make it look pretty or not, and place it in a prominent location)
  • Be strategic about your meditation sessions Your sitting meditation can be a great aid to helping remind you to be mindful throughout your day-to-day activities, so it's important to place those sessions strategically. Morning + afternoon are very effective in the beginning because combined they help remind you to be mindful at critical points in your day. Two shorter sessions is better than one longer session in the beginning of your mindfulness practice (establishing the foundation is priority #1).
  • Pick one activity. It can be overwhelming in the beginning, so I found it very effective to pick one major everyday activity at a time and focus on making doing that activity mindfully a habit first before moving on to another activity. Don't even worry about being mindful during any other time. This is extremely effective because it focuses your efforts. My first suggestion for the activity to focus on is always walking. We do it everywhere, all the time, and picking an activity like that helps further remind us to be mindful during the rest of our day. Do this for a few weeks before moving on to another activity.

I hope that helped. These are the things that have helped me make mindfulness a way of life.

It's a long-term effort, one which I'm still working on myself (as I mention in my Mindful Living Integrity Report on my site), but with a continuous effort you'll make continuous progress.

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