Mindfulness Roadmap 12 Guideposts To Illuminate Your Journey

“The crux of the biscuit
is the apostrophe”
Frank Zappa

A Mindfulness Roadmap For Breakfast

Each morning I create (construct) a large salad for breakfast with a base of kale, mushrooms and delicious tomatoes. Of course I pick and choose a myriad of other items to complete it, and top it off with some type of salad dressing. But this morning it occurred to me, how I construct my salad each morning is exactly how most of us construct our view of reality each morning when we awake. I immediately put the unopened bottle of dressing back into the refrigerator and instead sprinkled a mere teaspoon of vinegar over the top of the big salad.

Practicing mindfulness is a bit like putting the salad dressing back in the icebox, you end up with a clearer, crisper and healthier view of reality than you would have had without the practice.

As I ate my naked salad I was struck by the boldness of the flavors that usually are hidden under the creamy dressing. The tomatoes popped with freshness, the kale and the lettuce crunched loudly while mixing flavors with the salmon topped with slices of avocado and fresh ground black pepper. And the vinegar? Why it tied everything together, and accented the newness of the summer morning I watched awaken before me as I ate breakfast on the concrete back-steps, outside my house, this morning.

So what the heck is a Mindfulness Roadmap anyways? Simple, it’s a series of tips or guideposts worth (I think ) knowing as you journey from point A to point x,y and z. There are no miraculous finds within this list of steps, yet I think the twelve tips below are illuminating if you remember them as you practice. It’s easy to forget the basics as you spend more hours and months practicing mindfulness. Remember the basics and the rest of the work will take care of itself. Or I hope it will.
It’s easy to forget to keep your foot flat to the ground when you’re pedaling a bicycle, (bicycling into mindfulness) but if you do keep each foot flat you’ll go further and faster than if your technique is sloppy. It’s the same with practicing mindfulness, don’t get cocky or sloppy

The crux of any practice is to remember to do it. That little tip is what I kept in mind as I was assembling this mindfulness roadmap. And to get a good start to our journey I created the first step and titled it Start Small. How’s that for recognizing the difficulty in starting any new practice in our way too busy lives.
1. Start Small
And keep it simple. Mindfulness is not complicated, though it does require that we put the work (practice) into it on a regular basis. Are there any goals (not really) we need to keep in mind? Make your practice something you do each day, sit and watch your breath for a few minutes when you start out and work your way up to 20 or 30 minutes each day. At some point you may want to sit and watch your breath a couple of times each day but hey, don’t worry about that. If you do, you do and if you don’t, you don’t. Sit for a few minutes each day watching your breath and you’ll be fine.

2. Watch Your Breath
How the heck do I watch my breath, there’s nothing to see (grumbles). in your mind or watch it by being aware of the sensations of the air coming into your nose and leaving your nose. Feel the in and feel the out of your breath. In the beginning you may want to count your breaths until you have practiced a while and once you feel ready, drop the counting and start feeling the flow of your breath.
I do have a big suggestion (Rule) don’t get attached to controlling the in and out of your breath. It’s easy to fall into a rhythm where you are controlling the in and the out breath as you watch it. (complication, I know). But if you practice just feeling the breath come in and go out and not when or how strong it comes and goes you’ll be fine.
I promise your body knows how to breathe all on it’s own, without your help.

3. This is my favorite step, Sit and Repeat.
I like it because of its simplicity but, also because it reminds me of the saying Rinse and Repeat, both are clear and simple and as far as I know don’t have alternative meanings to confuse things (I could be wrong). Many people find little trouble in doing the sitting for the first time, but the hard part is in the repeating the sitting. Yep, it’s the doing it again and then doing it a 3rd and 4th time that becomes the problem.
It’s no bad enough that out minds will race and stream tons of thoughts and feeling while we sit in mindfulness practice but then we’re supposed to repeat it. Oh No!
The repeat part is the key to this whole thing, think of it as the goal (the one I said didn’t exist). Pretend I didn’t use that 4 letter word and think of sit and repeat as the same as rinse and repeat, the more you repeat the practice the more suds and dirt you get out in the rinse. Sound good?

4. Thoughts Come and Go
Thoughts appear to the tune of 60,000 thoughts racing through our minds each day. I’m sure no one walks around with a meter connected to their head that counts this stuff. But no matter if the real number is more or less, the fact is our minds our awash in a stream of thinking that has a mind of its own.
When we first start mindfulness practice we may be surprised at how much we think and how hard it is to control it our shut it off. But like watching our breath, observing our chatty mind is not about shutting it off or controlling the amount of thoughts that flow in and out.
When we are sitting in practice and thoughts flow in we can acknowledge them by mentally saying “thinking.” Saying “thinking” gives us a pause so we don’t jump down the rabbit hole of carrying on a conversation with ourselves, and then we can resume watching our breath. I sometimes will see a thought as a balloon and will gently pop it instead of saying “thinking” to myself.
The key here is to know you’re thinking and to gently bring yourself back to the breath without engaging with the thought and without judging yourself for thinking. Believe me your mind will throw thoughts at you no matter how much you grit your teeth and tell it not to. Acknowledge the thinking and come back to your breath.

5. Stay With It
Stay with what? You may ask. Stay with the emotions that you feel and experience while traveling the steps along the Mindfulness Roadmap excursion.
You may be tempted when uncomfortable emotions appear to distract yourself or crunch them into a paper ball and toss those pesky emotions as far as you can, don’t do it. And even though I know you’ll want to analyze, categorize, peg, rank, pigeonhole or classify the emotions as they appear as sensations, itches, irritations or creeping crawling pesky rawness, please don’t. Don’t grab onto any of them. treat the large or small sensations of anxiety, fear, confusion, anger and yes even joy the same way you treat your thoughts as they flow in and out of your mind. Gently and without judgement bring your attention back to the breath.

6. Tune Into Posture
If we slouch while sitting in meditation there is a good chance we’ll fall asleep or at least restrict the clear flow of our breath. Likewise if we tilt our head back there’s a good chance we’ll go into a dream or chattering state. Our back should be straight and our head very slightly tilted forward (I mean Very Slightly). If our eyes are open i suggest looking downwards just a bit in a gaze and not a focus. Even if your eyes are closed it’s good to check that you are not staring as this will cause the muscles around your eyes to tighten.
I find checking my posture often allows me to catch tightness in my neck and shoulders, around my eyes and in my fingers. Simply feel the position of your body as you finish exhaling. You can lightly scan your body after each exhale or you can do it every few exhales. No need to think about the scan just become aware of tightness in your body, loosen or straighten up and move onto your next inhale. After awhile you’ll be aware of tension without doing a scan, release it and inhale.

7. Join With Others
Finding a group to sit with on a regular basis can be difficult. I for example live in a small city of over 100,000 people and there are no daily AM sittings groups closer than 40 miles from me. When I lived in Hanover NH there was a group sitting everyday at 7:00 AM that had no requirements, you could show up sit for 45 minutes and leave or talk with others after the sitting or make arrangements to meet later. The group was perfect for those who wanted to sit with a group but had work or family obligations that prevented them from sitting at inconvenient times (my rant).
The point of all this before I got on my rant is that if you can find a group there are huge upsides to interacting with others who are sitting on a regular basis and if you can find a group that has open sits so you can easily pop in and out, get thee to the group.

8. Is That You?
Often people will get a bit concerned with he thoughts that flow in and then out of the their mind while sitting and watching their breath. First all the thoughts are transient and will leave and be replaced with other thoughts unless we grab onto them with concern or worry. That’s the key, the lifespan of thoughts is directly related to how much energy we give to them. Hold onto thoughts and they’ll hold on to you, so to speak. Acknowledge a thought as a thought and you dis-empower it.
When dark thoughts arrive don’t be surprised. Our minds throw some pretty weird stuff at us as we sit and watch our breath. When we are placing our attention on our breath we become more aware of your thoughts and dark thoughts don’t make you a bad or evil person. We all think of hitting someone in the face from time to time, they are just random thoughts and not who we are. Some of us will be sitting and have violent thoughts flow in and flow out just as quickly as them came in. Again our thoughts and emotions are mostly random and don’t define who we are.
Ask yourself, am I my thoughts. if your answer is yes than you may want to talk with a professional. Having dark thoughts is one thing, thinking you are those thoughts or you might act on them is a different thing.If sitting becomes uncomfortable for you stop sitting and talk with someone. Maybe join a group of people experienced in sitting to get support and guidance.
Normally the longer you sit watching your breath the less thoughts steaming into your awareness happen. And I don’t mean to alarm anyone who’s new to mindfulness. Start slowly and things should be fine.

9. Savor The Moment
When I think about the unfolding of each moment I am struck by the magnitude of a moment and further thrilled by the opportunity being presented to us within each moment we are aware of. WOW! If we are at least somewhat resolute about our sitting we will experience a deeper awareness of standing within the stream of moments in our life.
This standing in the stream of moments with awareness is not magic, it’s not religious and it’s not special but to quote Shunryu Suzuki “it is something.” Standing in the midst of unfolding moments and being aware of where we are erases the past and the future, it puts us squarely in the present, puts us squarely in the Here And Now.
And boom we suddenly are transported back to our everyday reality pregnant with the the tugging of the past and the promises of the future. We ask ourselves how did I lose being in the moment? The answer of course if that we tried to grab hold of the stream of unfolding moments, we tried to posses it and lost it.
Trekking through life using guides like the Mindfulness Roadmap may give you a shot at standing in the stream of moments again, or for the first time.

10. Don’t Get Caught
Mindfulness is not possession of the present moment, it’s not owning the here and now. Mindfulness is awareness of the here and now, awareness of standing in the stream of infinite unfolding moments commonly referred to as the “present.” We lose that awareness once we get caught by grabbing, clutching, snagging, hooking and nabbing onto it.
The key is not to try and possess the present moment but to dwell in awareness of it. Don’t get caught by distractions, don’t be engulfed by desire to possess it. We are always standing in the midst of the stream of unfolding moments, we just don’t realize it most of the time.

11. Do It Anywhere
One minute of watching your breath on a busy train can transport you in mindfulness and for that reason alone I recommend you practice whenever and wherever you can. Close your eyes at your desk and watch your breath, maybe duck into a local library and sit for 5 minutes before you go to work. Wherever You Are, Watch Your Breath, Uncork Your Awareness.
It’s Also easy to carry the Mindfulness Roadmap with you on your cell phone with out handy Slideshare Slideshow Here.

12. Cluttered Mind
Uncluttering your mind is much simpler than many would have you believe and simpler than you probably believe. When you are ready to take a step you’ll only need a few minutes each day as a starting point. Sit, Breathe and Repeat. You’ll be on your way, do you wonder where that could be? Do you wonder what it will be like. Well, take a step and Sit, Breathe and Repeat. – It’s That Simple

Mindfulness – 12 Illuminating Guideposts – Slideshow from Craig Daniels

Unblocking Creativity – Engage Your Active Side

By Craig Daniels - Leave a Comment

Within the chorus of David Bowie’s Changes, he sings “time may change me, but I can’t trace time.” When we first hear this familiar part it may seem nonsensical. It may make as much sense as a Zen Koan, but look at it for a moment and turn it over in your mind. What does it mean to “Trace Time“?

If we could “trace time” we’d be able to know exactly when change occurred in our lives, we’d see the pivot points and quite possibly know how to replicate them in the here and now. If we could “trace time” we’d easily be able to unlock the pesky creative blocks that encumber our businesses, our teams and ourselves.

Does my interpretation of “Trace Time” connect with how you see those lyrics? Or do you have a totally different understanding than I do? If you see it differently, and there certainly are different options available please comment on it below.

Musical lyrics and Koans are both related to blocked creative flow, think about it. Both song lyrics and Zen Koans require that we stretch ourselves beyond the ordinary, and move toward resolution. Both Zen Koans and Song Lyrics invite us to hear them and see them with an unknowing mind. Both musical lyrics and Zen Koans lend themselves to multiple interpretations and both require us to come at them with a non-ordinary approach to problem solving. Unblocking Creativity easily could be a 3rd category and fits easily into the same bucket of requirements of song lyrics and Zen Koans.

Actively Unblocking Creativity asks us to see things differently instead of banging our heads against the wall while we wail about how blocked we are. For a moment and for a bit of fun imagine your whole team finding their own spot on the wall, and in unison banging their heads in hopes of unblocking creativity.

In the above exercise do you think your team achieved a breakthrough? It’s more likely the only breakthrough achieved in this exercise was head going through the plaster wall. Of course the above exercise should be preformed only with a gentle bang of your head against the wall, or a slightly harder bang if you are using your imagination. I’m pretty sure no one would really smash there fragile skull against a wall (hard) to see if it unblocked their creativity.

NOTE: If your team is tempted to try the above please be gentle in your head banging, and never slam your head into a concrete or metal wall. Not even for a creative breakthrough.

Unblocking Creativity will only grow and become ridge if we walk away from it saying, “I don’t understand or it makes no sense.” Approach the block with awareness grounded in the present moment and not chained to the past or future.

5 Activities for Unblocking Creativity

I walk most days as a way of shutting off the noise in my mind, and shifting to a quieter place. Walking for me clears out the distractions better and quicker than any other activity I’ve found. And judging by the large and diverse group of men and women I see while on my daily walks I think we’ve all found a great way to shift our thinking into a more spacious place.

Where you walk is not as important as the act of walking itself. When I lived in northern New England most of my walking was along parts of the Appalachian trail, but now I walk along well traveled roads. The quiet and scenery are not nearly as beautiful on the streets but the opportunity to put myself into the here and now is equally expansive.

“Every walker is a guard on patrol to protect the ineffable.”
Rebecca Solnit

The action, to meditate is perhaps a misnomer. Meditation is not a verb, not something we do but instead is a space we inhabit when sitting or walking. Meditation can best be thought of as being present and aware within the body of each moment, without doing anything.

Now I’ve gone and thrown a wrench into the usual understanding of actively practicing meditation or mindfulness. Meditation is not something we actively engage with the way we go jogging or climbing a mountain but you can be meditation while doing both of those things.

Meditation like mindfulness is not concentration on a particular object of action such as washing dishes, thought you can be both in meditation and be mindful while washing dishes. Take a breath and sit with a moment and with the next moment without doing anything but being aware of what is there.

“To understand the immeasurable,
the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti

Washing dishes as a tool for unblocking creativity may seem at first glance a bit suspect, I use it as an example to highlight the myriad of everyday tasks we can engage with to help us unblock. I could as easily used the Zen standby “carry water, chop wood.”

We all live within an endless stream of moments, moments imbued with opportunity and because of this each activity we find ourselves in the middle of is of equal value in unlocking the lost and in turning the key that reveals the hidden treasures.

The trick (it’s not a trick) is as simple as moving out of our own way and allowing our awareness within each moment to blossom. Chop wood, carry water and get out of your head, it’s as simple and as complicated as that. We can use anything we do as the catalyst to open the door.

“I find myself dreaming of doing normal things –
like staying home and washing dishes.”
Shalom Harlow

We all can draw, doodle, scribble, etch, paint, sketch, trace, outline or storyboard something. Applying pressure behind a pencil or pen to a piece of paper is all that is required. Feel free to ignore lack of talent or proficiency and draw whatever comes to you hand.

The writer-Zen teacher Natalie Goldberg encourages her students during writing periods to “let yourself go.” And the same goes for drawing, let yourself go and let your subconsciousness express itself. This is practice in itself.

“See feel draw: One verb.”
Jandy Nelson

Journal writing can be as undisciplined as jumping up and down in a mud-puddle, do you remember doing that when you were a child? What were you feeling with each splash splash splash? Believe me, letting go of constraints in journal writing is a good thing.

In the beginning of writing in your new journal you may find it equally liberating to have a few constraints, and that’s great. Create a space, pick a topic, set the amount of time you’ll spend each day and write write write.

When I first started writing I choose the quiet time of first waking up each morning. I’d make a cup of coffee, sit myself down at the kitchen table so I’d get a clear view out the windows. The view from the windows became my muse, it stirred a writing stream within that relegated any worries about Unblocking Creativity.

“Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.”
Christina Baldwin

Bicycling Into Mindfulness – An Alternative Practice ?

By Craig Daniels - Leave a Comment

I first learned about meditation and mindfulness in college and while it sounded interesting I didn’t formally engage in a meditation practice for another 20 years. But in hindsight I now realize I very much became a practitioner of being in the moment and mindfulness when I took up daily bicycle riding, years before I ever sat and watched my breath.

From my first 10 mile bike ride I fell in love with the freedom and exhilaration one experiences while riding long distances up and down the hills of Vermont and New Hampshire. For nearly 15 years I turned the pedals on my bike round and round from March through mid November. At times my riding included others, but often I’d ride alone. My daily ride distance stretched from 20 to 50 miles in what I now recognize as me Bicycling into Mindfulness.

While pedaling, my thoughts would become nonexistent, they’d fall away or disappear as each foot locked to the pedals went round and round. The pedaling itself became my focus and in time the cadence anchored my chattering mind and delivered a panorama of visual clarity and effortless purpose, I’d discovered Bicycling into Mindfulness.

Many occupations such as surgeons, pilots, writers, athletes and welders often find themselves completely in the moment while the rest of the world vanishes. This falling away of thought transforms into mindfulness and present moment awareness, a state most of us can tap into using a simple meditation practice. For Beginners I recommend the MUSE headband as a wonderful tool to quiet your thinking and develop everyday mindful awareness.

Our minds ride upon a torrent of thoughts from the moment we wake each morning till we finally fall asleep each evening. On average each of us produces 60,000 distinct thoughts each and every day, thankfully most of those thoughts are below the surface awareness, otherwise we’d become immobile.

I stopped riding regularly when I moved to an urban area and grew tired of fighting the traffic and potholes I came across as I searched for a clear stretch of road, and I’m not mentioning the all too common flat tires that frequently occurred.

Bicycling Into Mindfulness

One of my favorite rides took place in a small Vermont town known at Quechee. Originally a farming community that turned into a resort and 2nd home community for those who the locals called Flatlanders, meaning they moved to Vermont from Connecticut or Massachusetts.

In Quechee I’d park my car at a friends house on Main Street and begin my ride. Main Street is a narrow two lane road bereft of shoulders, meaning if I got too close to the edge of the road I’d tumble down an embankment. The tumbling was always in the back of my mind as I pedaled forward along Main Street, and yes I did tumble down the embankments a few times. The aforementioned tumbling caused me to ride in the middle of the lane while on Main St, thus forcing cars coming up behind me to go around me and saving me from more tumbles off the edge of the road. Paying attention to each moment was vital for the first few miles of my ride.

Main Street merged with Route 4 in the small town of Taftsville, but first I had to cross the one lane covered wooden bridge. Crossing meant riding in the center of the bridge on a raised series of boards no more than 18 inches wide. I’d zoom over the bridge as fast as possible, hoping a car coming the opposite direction didn’t appear and force me to stop and let the car pass then start riding on the middle planks to finish the river crossing. Cars rarely waited for me to finish my crossing before proceeding their crossing.

Once on Route 4, I was able to focus on my pedaling to maximize both my speed and efficiency. To get the most out of riding it’s important to master the cadence of pedaling much like mastering the cadence of breathing when sitting in a regular or device aided meditation session.

Our tendency is to point our toes toward the ground on each down-stroke, but it turns out that keeping our foot and the pedal flat on the down-stroke if more efficient. And it allows more speed with less effort over time.

Keep both feet parallel to the ground through the entire pedaling cycle.
As your foot reaches the point where it starts it’s upward motion, lift that foot using your leg and the momentum of the pedal.
Continue lifting on each rotation while keeping both feet parallel to the ground. Down-Push and Up-Pull in a fluid oval motion.

Much like watching your breath in sitting meditation this way of pedaling will feel awkward at first and you may find yourself becoming mechanical as your apply the practice. Just as in breathing during meditation it’s important to let the body find its own rhythm and not get attached to perfection. Let your breathing and your pedaling take on their own cadence.. Left alone your body will breath in and out on it’s own, and your feet will go round and round on their own as well.

If you find yourself rocking from side to side your seat needs to be lowered some. If you find yourself squirming in your chair as you do meditation remind yourself that it’s just resistance to sitting quietly expressing itself.

Resistance to a quiet mind or a smoothly flowing pedaling motion is natural. Our mind is busy and will always look for an outlet until we train it to slow itself and connect it to awareness of breath and awareness of pedaling.

THOUGHT: The observing mind is like a rock
in the middle of a stream….. Visualize it

In the center of Woodstock I’d turn right onto Route 12 and head north out of town. It was on Route 12 that I found my cadence, a cadence resembling settling into the natural rhythm of breathing during my daily 40 minute MUSE mindfulness sessions. it was on Route 12 that I first experienced Bicycling into Mindfulness.

My bike route took me past Mt. Tom and the cut off to Suicide 6, both were ski areas where I spent countless hours in my early teens. Mt. Tom is now closed for skiing but is crisscrossed with hiking trails.

Each time I’d pass the ski areas memories would fill my mind and occasionally throw off my pedaling cadence. The push and lift, push and lift would decay as my mind wandered to skiing down the mountains on some bright sunny day full of joy, full of youth. But just as I bring my awareness back to the in and out of my breathing while sitting in meditation I’d bring my pedaling back to the familiar push and lift, push and lift cadence.

After the passing the ski areas the road took on a steady rise broken up by a few downhill dips and then upward again it went. The steady assent was one of the joys of riding and I’d easily slip into a no thinking mode of awareness as I pedaled (push and lift) upwards for miles and miles.

Once I reached my turn around point I’d spin around and speed as fast as possible back down toward town. The downhill part of the ride was glorious and while I didn’t need to pedal for much of it I nevertheless continued my cadence all the while watching the world pass by in a blur of focused awareness while bicycling into mindfulness.

Push and Lift, Push and Lift, In and Out, In and Out. The pedaling and breathing anchoring my mind in a serenity where the stream of thoughts, judgments and assumptions melted away.

Push and Lift – – – – – – In and Out,

Moment flowing into Moment,

it’s all the same thing.

Mindfulness Practice Tips from Craig Daniels

Mindful Meditation Opens Doors In Life

By Craig Daniels - Leave a Comment

This Mindful Meditation we see and hear about nearly everyday in blog posts, scattered across social media and inking its way across print media is much simpler to understand and to do than you may think.

For a brief moment imagine standing on a platform waiting for a train or subway car, now expand your imagining so you see you’re also in the middle of a workday crowd rushing to get to their jobs and running errands for the day with everyone slightly jostling each other on the platform worried they’ll be late, for whatever it is they think the have to do. Ask yourself “What Am I Doing Right Now?“

If you are distracted by the noise and energy on the station platform then it’s likely you’ve lost your focus and your connection to being mindful. If on the other hand you are aware of all the hubbub around you yet you are clam and focused on the moment you are inhabiting it’s likely you are being mindful.

Of course my little example above is a bit simplistic but closer to being in the moment without losing your focus than you might think. Being mindful is as simple as being present in each moment within each moment within each moment. Getting to that place can seem complicated but I assure you it is no more complicated than breathing in and then breathing out.

It’s no more complicated than feeling your left foot hit the ground and lift itself into the air while feeling your right foot do the same in sync with the left foot, that’s being mindful. Left than right and repeat, you’re moving forward right?

Each of us is on a seemingly endless journey along a road with many hills and valleys in the form of hopes and fears, in the form of judgments and assumptions about ourselves and about everyone and everything we come in contact with. Through the practice of mindful meditation we will discover a space we can inhabit that is free of judgments and assumptions. We can reach this space through a simple practice of breathing in and breathing out.

Our society urges us to practice wishful thinking and endless talking, but in the end these two practices are empty distractions and won’t help us to inhabit each moment in our life with focus, awareness and gusto (passion, vitality, love) and a feeling of being awake.

The practice is as vital and current today as it was 2500 years ago and you don’t have to join anything, pay anything, be anything (other than yourself), go anywhere, worship anything or anybody. No, you only need to sit and breathe in and out on a regular basis.

” it’s nothing special, but it is something”
shunryu suzuki

Mindful Meditation is a an act that’s as simple as watching yourself breathe in and out, it’s that simple, that basic. As your breath comes in and flows out your mind and body become synchronized. As your breath comes in and goes out you start to notice the stream of thoughts flowing through your mind, a stream of activity you usually are too distracted by the everyday noise to recognize.

Each of us has in the neighborhood of 60,000 thoughts each day, most of which we are unaware of. Most of these thoughts have little to do with what we are engaged in at the moment.

Practicing meditation allows us to create space within our mind which helps us to see each moment in a clearer and calmer view. This space gives us a chance to pause before we react to what’s going on around us and make more choices that are not colored by quick judgements, unfounded assumptions and unfocused basis.

Choose a quiet space for your mindful meditation practice and if at all possible pick a space located far away from all the external distractions in your life. If you are new to meditation you’ll soon find that your mind has more than enough thoughts and distractions without exposing yourself to extra noise and hum from the world while you sit in meditation. Choose a space where you can detach from your everyday life with ease.

Once you’ve spent enough time and sessions in meditation that you think it’s something you’d like to continue on a regular basis, consider creating part of that space into a dedicated area that’s reserved for practice. Maybe hang a few serene and peaceful pictures on the wall along with a small table for any items like books or candles you find inspiring to your practice.

2. sit comfortably

Sitting in meditation should not be confused with torture. If your knees or back are hurting you more than likely will quit the practice. So why put yourself through excruciating pain? Sitting is a marathon not a sprint and sitting comfortably is important.

If you want to ache and pay penance for some sin you’ve committed I suggest you visit a monastery and sit for hours and hours and hours each day, that will do it.

For the rest of us I suggest trying different postures till you feel you’ve found what works for you. You can sit on a cushion, on a chair, walk or stand. Others do lengthened yoga exercise and meditate while they hold a position, good for them but not for most of us.

From time to time I sill sit on a cushion but mostly I sit in one of those ergonomic office chairs with the high back and headrest. I use a chair because it supports my back very well and that is one of the keys to meditation NEVER SLOUCH. I rest my hands palms down on my thighs or folded in my lap left hand on top of my right hand and my thumbs touching comfortably.

Many years ago when I sat in a Zen center one of the monks would gently touch my shoulder while pushing on my lower back to help me reposition my posture and stop slouching, but now when I’m sitting alone I find the chair keeps me very straight.

I gotta say, I miss having a monk remind me to not slouch. (note to self – work on that attachment)

When you begin your meditation practices, start with small chunks of time. Those who I’ve talked with over the years tell me 5, 7 or 10 minutes are worthy chunks of time to begin with. I personally always add 2 minutes to every chunk of time I’m committing to, so my start times would be 7, 9 and 12 minutes.

Why do I add 2 minutes? I add the 2 minutes because I never know how focused I am till I actually sit down in meditation, the extra two minutes is meant to absorb fidgeting around on the chair or cushion. I’m sure you all know it can be difficult to sit still when you first sit. So I think of the extra 2 minutes as throw-away minutes and then I get the most out of the remaining time. Even after years of sitting I still add 2 minutes to each session and sit either 37 or 47 minutes and let all my restlessness play out in the first 2 minutes.

4. focus on your breathing

Take a few deep breaths once you’ve gotten comfortable at the beginning of your meditation practice, try inhaling threw you nose for a count of 3 and exhaling through your mouth. Do this 2 or 3 times to settle things.

Some people can feel the air coming into their nose easily while others have to use their imagination, I’m one of the latter. I don’t feel the air until it is in my nose and starting to flow down into my lungs. But I have no problem with feeling it exit right at the entrance to my nose. Find a spot where it comes in and a spot where it flows out and sit with it as it comes in and goes out, comes in and goes out, comes in and goes out.

At the beginning as you are developing your practice bring the rising and falling of your chest of abdomen into your awareness if this helps. After a while you’ll be able to bring your focus down to a smaller area.

3 to 4 times during each sitting I will follow my breath as it travels into the back of my throat and then I’ll imagine it flowing down the out side of my neck into my shoulders and then reverses itself. I use this exercise to prod my neck and shoulders into releasing any accumulated tension which in turn frees up my breathing a bit more.

Observing the breath gives you refuge when your thoughts pop into your awareness and allows you to let them pass with judging if they are good or bad, right or wrong, light or dark. When you notice you are thinking gently bring your awareness back to your breath.

When sitting in meditation it doesn’t matter if you have evil thoughts or good thoughts, they are only thoughts to be regarded as “thinking.” Your thoughts are nether sinful nor virtuous, nether dark or light. You may think about punching someone in the face or maybe you’ll think about buying all the ice-cream from the local ice-cream truck and giving it away to all the kids and their parents in the nearby park.

Don’t be shocked by your thinking just label your thoughts as “thinking ” and come back to the breath.

If the thoughts become overwhelming or your emotions starting roaring remind yourself that you are neither your thoughts or your emotions. At the end of the day you get to decide if you’ll hook onto your thoughts and emotions or if you’ll bring your focus back to your breath and allow your thought and emotions to tire themselves out.

Uncomfortable thoughts and emotions are a great time to strengthen your practice by releasing the hold they have on you. It’s when we judge the thoughts and emotions as good or bad that we increase their power. return to your breath over and over and over, soon enough your thoughts and emotions will move on as if they were never there. Breathe in and breathe out.

How regularly you practice mindful meditation over a long stretch is more important than how long you sit, at least early on in your practice it is. 10 (12) minutes each and every day for 30 days is recommended over just 1 hour of straight sitting once a week. The commitment of sitting yourself down each day goes a long way toward connecting you with the present moment, connecting you with here and now.

Focus Opens Opportunity

By Craig Daniels - Leave a Comment

Our mind rides on a stream of thoughts and emotions seemingly manufactured endlessly. And given that each of us creates in the neighborhood of 60,000+ thoughts each and everyday, endless may be an understatement.

We are awash in our thoughts, awash in our emotions, all simmering and bubbling in a mind-soup, a tangy concoction of past experiences. These hopes, fears, judgements and assumptions existing below our awareness direct our actions and turn our emotions on and off with little consciousness input from us. It’s both amazing and scary at the same time.

The Encounter

Distractions often engulf us as if we are being overwhelmed by a powerful force. And in a sense when a distraction grabs our focus we are at the mercy of our thoughts, engulfed by our subconscious. From deep within ourselves we start walking away from our intended focus. We think and do things counter to what we’ve told ourselves.

The encounter with our ravenous subconscious thoughts often muddies our clarity and erases our awareness. It’s often easier to go with the flow when we encounter thoughts emotionally charged with craving, grabbing and desire, then it is to stay our ground and remain focused.

“When people talk, listen completely.
Most people never listen.”
Ernest Hemingway

It can be easy to convince ourselves we are listening to another, when in fact we are only looking at them while our thoughts zoom here and there within our skull. It’s not our job to decide if what they are talking about is important or relevant to our lives. Our job, our commitment is to actively focus with our best listening skills in full engagement. Otherwise we should excuse ourselves, and go home to watch TV, or find another activity requiring only passive attention.

Our minds constantly distract our attention and will dissolve our focus unless we actively train it to ignore the caustic judgements and assumptions dancing to and fro, dancing side to side in our untrained mind.

“People will look at the world without seeing anything
beyond their unconscious expectation.”
Chuck Klosterman

Expectations seem to rise out of nowhere when we least expect them. But in reality our expectations are completely in line with our beliefs about how the world “SHOULD BE,” in line with how we see the world. But expectations can be a gift when we notice them, we can ask ourselves why are my feelings hurt and why should that person do what I want them to do?Ask yourself, is what I see in front of what I expect to see and not what is really occurring?

Every time you notice someone is not doing, saying or thinking what you think they should be doing, saying or thinking ask yourself, why am I attempting to control this persons actions, control this persons thoughts. When we ask ourselves these questions our anger, our hurt feelings and our contempt for another person often dissolves and the veil falls away from our sight.

“Speak to me:
I will spend my lifetime trying to understand you.”
Kamand Kojouri

Imagine for a moment someone repeating the above quote. We all want others to listen to our thoughts, our dreams and ideas. Each of us longs to be listened to and to be understood.

What’s the secret to hearing and understanding what another is sharing with you? It’s simple, FOCUS. Understanding another requires attention to that person as they speak. Hearing what’s being said is not a passive activity, it’s an active one.

“When birds burp, it must taste like bugs.”
Bill Waterson

I wonder, how much awareness and focus do we bring to tasting what we put in our mouths. Do you think you’d notice if the next forkful tasted like a bug? Think about that for a couple of moments. We talk while we eat, we drive while we eat, we watch movies and television while we eat, we argue and debate while we eat. The one thing we rarely do while we eat is eat with awareness, and focus on what’s happening at the moment we eat.

Being in the present moment while eating is a fine way to develop our focus skills. Practicing a little while eating will not only pay off while eating but will develop your focus in other areas of your life.

“Touch is the more basic, the most nonconceptual form
of communication that we have.”
Ina May Gaskin

Often we barely notice the shape or texture of the things we touch. Our nerves in most of our bodies send a wealth of interesting and sometimes vital information to our brains but because we are so often distracted we fail to notice.

Try focusing a little each time you pick something up, be aware of what sensations you feel as your fingers tighten their grip around the object. What are you feeling and where does that information take you? What do you associate with the sensations?

The Glorious Words of Focus

centered
heart
convergence
absorbed
limelight
engaged
captivated
fascinated
involved
engrossed
consumed

The Inglorious Words of Distraction

frenzied
distraught
bewilderment
distressed
panicked
confusion
interference
agitation
bored
frightened
uncomfortable

Here’s a short article expanding on my thoughts about Focus: The Art of Focus: Why Entrepreneurs Need ‘Focus’ More Than Anything Else

And finally, here is a kinda short video (19:00 minutes) about how our brains deal and adapt to focus. If you want to jump to the last tip (Unitasking) skip ahead to 6:07 and you can listen to Dr.Marvin Myungwoo Chun talk about why Multitasking may be the worst thing we can do to our brains and ability to focus.

Focus is something that every business can benefit from in huge ways. Focus enhances thinking, communicating, direction, innovation, creativity, production and decreases stress, worry, job dissatisfaction, sick days, and general malaise associated with being unhappy and unfulfilled with your job.

Focus can be learned and strengthened in much the same ways as walking or biking strengthens muscles in our bodies. It’s being actively engaged with the 3 tips ( Simplify, Relax, Unitask) from the above video that expands our focus right before our eyes and perceptions. You’ll be amazed how even 10 or 15 minutes each day of exercise can bring about deeper focus and awareness of what’s going on in your life.

Time Well Spent

By Craig Daniels - Leave a Comment

Often the phrase Time Well Spent is connected to a group of words such as time-management, productivity and constructive. When most employers think about Time Well Spent they are thinking about the ROI you represent. Rarely does the TWS conversation find it’s way around to words containing valuable, gratifying, beneficial, rewarding or generative. Nor is creative and innovative connected meaningfully with TWS. Why is that? Think about it for a moment.

Is TWS while you’re away from your work not valuable to your employer? Is TWS in pursuit of family, hobbies, vacations, studying, or a myriad of things seemingly not directly connected with your work, not important to how well you preform your job?

Why are the words we traditionally think of as encompassing and promoting creative, innovative, visionary and ingenious outcomes not generally part of the TWS conversation?

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled,
but a fire to be kindled.”
Plutarch

Curiosity calls to each of us from the moment we are born, it is the siren song of becoming an inquisitive being. Each of us has a thirst to know why and how ideas, things and people operate. From our earliest breath we reach out to know experience. And if we are lucky enough to have people in our lives that encourage our Curiosity we’ll continue to search for answers all our life.

When a business allows our Curiosity to grow and expand in the work environment that business benefits tremendously. If we are wondering about how we can better do our job, searching for a better way to communicate with customers and our co-workers we are growing the business and creating long term wealth.

Encouraging and cultivating Curiosity within each employee is not only smart business it is fundamental to success in the 21st century and is TWS.

“There is always a gap between intention and action..”
Paulo Coelho

Sitting at the base of Time Well Spent is a little thing called Intent. Being involved with Intent is a bit like balancing on the tip top of a triangle, atop a pyramid of choice. Intent is where you shed all other options when you take a step forward into the unknown. Intent is what allows us to accomplish what needs to be done if we are going to have moments, or even a lifetime of TWS.

We think and think some more and we plan and plot out where we want to be. And in a blink of an eye we create Intent to power us across the water to the other-side. it sounds magical and maybe it is, but let’s not get caught in that trap. Intent is decision fortified with action.

Intent is something every team and group within a business should value and understand. Intent is the glue that leads a team to new heights of awesomeness and success, Intent washes away the individual ego and allows for group to reach the summit.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it
is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
William Arthur Ward

We often find the Gratitude showing up at the end of a project within most businesses, more of an afterthought than an important part of success. You reach the company goal or create new and exciting innovations and lastly hands are shaken and maybe a few pats of the back are exchanged, but that’s about the extent of Gratitude in today’s business environment.

If Intent sits at the top of the success pyramid then Gratitude is the gyroscope at it’s center keeping it centered and aligned. Gratitude is the nourishment within a business connecting each employee to each customer in a active circular relationship, a relationship that generates deep success and validates TWS.

Read more about Gratitude in business – 20 Examples Gratitude Helping Business

“The world’s continual breathing is what we hear and call silence.”
Clarice Lispector

How does cultivating Silence within your business have anything to do with success, growth and TWS? Silence creates the space needed to build a sturdy and functional pyramid of success. Silence is where we first notice the assumptions and judgements we bring to each project and relationship within the business. Those hooks we all carry around blinding us to current reality can be at the very least pushed aside and sometimes eliminated.

Silence opens the windows letting in the fresh, interesting and creative ideas. Silence encourages each member within the business to share their strength and vision, a sharing that adds to success and long-term value creation.

Check Out Mindfulness Changes Everything in Business

“Sharing will enrich everyone with more knowledge.”
Ana Monar

Sharing can be thought of as an overview of the entire business, a clear view of how connected each of us is to each other and to the whole. Think of yourself floating above everything and seeing how each cog in the machine depends on the other cogs to give its best.

Sharing what we think and Sharing what we’ve learned with the others in the group creates new and exciting innovations much quicker than each person working in isolation. And not only are innovations created quicker but also created on a richer and more satisfying way leading to TWS.

“Only time will tell if it was time well-spent.”
Jimmy Buffett

Mindfulness Roadmap 12 Guideposts To Illuminate Your Journey

A Mindfulness Roadmap For Breakfast

1. Start Small

2. Watch Your Breath

3. This is my favorite step, Sit and Repeat.

4. Thoughts Come and Go

5. Stay With It

6. Tune Into Posture

7. Join With Others

8. Is That You?

9. Savor The Moment

10. Don’t Get Caught

11. Do It Anywhere

12. Cluttered Mind

Unblocking Creativity – Engage Your Active Side

5 Activities for Unblocking Creativity

Bicycling Into Mindfulness – An Alternative Practice ?

Mindful Meditation Opens Doors In Life

Focus Opens Opportunity

Time Well Spent