mindfulness

When my father died a was in India, and it was not possible to be in time for the funeral (no mobiles or mail) so I went to Kandy in Shri Lanka for some days before returning. It was a quiet place in the mountains by a lake, I didn't talk to anyone about my situation, but the nature and the kind family who rented me a room helped me a lot. Perhaps even the tooth of Buddha helped me.;~}(it´s said to be there, in a temple). Anyway, it was a good place for contemplating on impermanence. When a parent or a brother/sister passes away, death comes near. Then it´s time to look at it. Perhaps not immediately, first you probably have to mourn. But sooner or later you will understand that we all has to die. It´s scary, but it will be even more scary if you don´t think about it at all. If you meditate it be less scary - the I or the ego will not dominate any more. The ego will be there, but you can treat it like a child. Buddha said; if the...

Lay down on your back on a carpet or on a yoga mat. Just relax and follow your breath for a while. Then  try to feel the whole of your body. Do that for a while and then try to relax one part of the body after the other. You can start with the toes of the left foot. Feel the toes, are they cold or warm, can you feel when they touch each other? Then take a deep breath into the toes, feel them and leave them with your out breath. In that way you can scan the whole of your body from part to part. Go from the toes to the head. Stay some minutes with each part. Can you feel the heart, the hands, even the brain? Make friends with your body. If thoughts come just once again concentrate on the body. You can end the scan trying to breath with the whole of your body. The whole scan can take up to 20 minutes. This is an exircises inspired by Jon Kabbat- Zinn. You can find his records here and there. Try this for a week and I'm sure you will enjoy it.

The philosopher Martin Buber wrote about relations: You should look at another person as a subject, not as a thing, an object. At least as often as possible. When you really meet someone, you will change, but you don't want to change the other person. He writes; "In the beginning was the relation". The most important aspect for a human is other humans and nature. But he also writes; "Without It man cannot live. But the one who lives only with this view is not human." Sometimes we have to look at others as objects, but then again you should shift to the You-I view. Sometimes we have to cut down a tree, but we shouldn't do it all the time.   But if you look at this topic in a deeper level, it´s possible to say; You and I are the same. We are all one. So if you condemn another being you are condemning yourself. If you hurt someone - you hurt yourself and so on..... But perhaps it's necessary to separate this two levels; you cannot meditate a...

You have to start with yourself. If you don't love yourself you can´t love other people. I you condemn yourself you will condemn other people. With the help of mindfulness you can examine your thoughts. If you find a condemning thought, fine, you can give it a title; "a condemning thought" and then let it be, let it pass. Concentrate on the breath and let the thoughts come and go. It does not matter if you are condemning yourself or others - it is just a thought, it is not you! Perhaps you can imagine that you are a magnificent being - because we all are! Anita Moorjani knows a lot about these things - she had a NDE and was then healed from severe cancer. You can read and listen to her story here: http://anitamoorjani.com  Two of her messages are; don't take yourself too seriously and try to live in the present time as often as possible...

We often use the left hemisphere of our brain. That means we use language, linear thinking and thinking of details. We also use the left  hemisphere when we make plans for the future and think of the past. We are trained to use the left hemisphere. We need that, but we also need to see the greater picture and live in the the now. We also need feelings and sometimes we need to stop thinking, stop comparing and judging. We probably use the left hemisphere of the brain too much. We need a balanced mind. The Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor, who had a stroke, knows something about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU

We are influenced by our expectations - if we think that a pill will make our better, we probably will have that result and vice versa. If you are afraid of getting sick, the higher the risk that you really will get ill. Mindfulness can be a method to examine thoughts and worries about sickness. Thoughts are just thoughts and they don't have influence you. Let them pass as clouds do in the sky. Here's an article in NYT about nocebo; http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/opinion/sunday/beware-the-nocebo-effect.html?_r=0

To be mindful is NOT to have Alzheimers. The man who named the disease, Alois Alzheimer, discovered the it when he talked to an elderly woman. It was hard to talk with her, her answers to his question "What would you do if you had six eggs" was "brood them". But once a while she could say things like like; "In a way I have lost my self". But even if you loose the illusion of a permanent self, you don't loose yourself. You still have a will and a direction. Alzheimers is recognised as a bi loss of memory. But what you most of all loose is the capacity to be here and now and to use your brain in a adequate way.  Instead you get lost en memories and thinking. Yes, you think too much, and are too less mindful. When my mother got the disease she could remember the names of the horses that her grandfathers had in the stall - but she didn´t know where she was at the time....