Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Mindfulness in the Workplace-------21 Ways to Reduce Stress During the Workday.


Mindfulness practice is a vehicle for stress reduction that assists people in learning to replenish their internal resources and increase psycho social hardiness. In addition many participants report positive changes in their sense of self, including a deepened sense of self esteem, an increased ability to care for themselves and understand their fellow human beings. and for some, a finer appreciation for the preciousness of everyday life.

Sometimes when people think of meditation or mindfulness throughout their day, they get stuck by their struggle to ground and integrate the stability and connectedness they felt during a sitting meditation practice into their "non-sitting" time. That was how 21 ways to reduce stress during the workday came into play. I proceeded to ask myself, "How do I attempt to handle ongoing stress while at work?" and not only at work but from the time I awaken in the morning until I return home at the end of the workday. In what ways do I attempt to infuse mindfulness into the fabric of my everyday life? What can help to awaken me when I become intoxicated by the sheer momentum and urgency of life?

Mindfulness harnesses our capacity to be aware of what is going on in our bodies, minds and hearts in the world and in the workplace. One thing we discover as we pay closer attention to what is going on in and around us is that stressors, the continual and constantly changing flow of events, are ever present and tend to draw us away from the awareness of the true self.. Meditation is the practice of returning to our true self.

Each of the 21 ways can be seen as preventative--- a kind of pre-stress immunity factor. or as a recuperative---- a means of recovering balance following a difficult experience. In addition they are tools for modifying our reactions in the midst of adversity. As you go through the list you will notice there are pre during and post work suggestions. Incorporating this new awareness into your life will necessitate a skillful effort that includes commitment, patience and consistency. Please allow yourself the room to experiment without self criticism. Treat yourself kindly and enjoy the journey.

I want to share with you a story of a physician which is a wonderful example of this mindfulness process. It is called "Little Green Dots"

This physician said that as his practice grew busier and more demanding, he began to have minor transient symptoms that included increased neck and shoulder tension, fatigue and irritability. At first the symptoms were relieved by a good night's sleep or a relaxing weekend, but as his medical practice continued to grow, the symptoms became more persistent and much to his own chagrin, he noticed he was becoming "a chronic clock watcher."

One day he had a revelation. He walked over to his secretary's supply cabinet and pulled out a package of "little green dots" used for color coding files. He placed one on his watch and decided that since he couldn't stop watching the clock, he would use the dot as a visual cue that served as a reminder to center himself by taking one conscious breath and dropping his shoulders.

The next day he placed a dot on the wall clock, for he realized, "If I am not looking at the watch on my wrist then I'm looking at the one on the wall." He continued this practice and by the end of the week had placed a green dot on each exam room door, After a few weeks he said much to his own surprise that he had stopped, breathed and relaxed 100 times in a single day. This simple yet effective decision to be mindful had been transformative. He felt much better, and most importantly, his patients told him that he was "much more like himself." For him, that was the icing on the cake.
This story is simple and direct. Using what is around us as a reminder of our innate capacity to be calm and centered is essential if we wish to thrive in our cultural busy-ness. This can be done in many creative ways. for example, if you do a lot of telephone work, use the first ring of the telephone as a reminder to take a nice deep breath and relax. Things like this teaches us to respond rather than to just react.



The following 21 ways are simply a road map. I wish you peace and well being as you explore and discover your own ways to mindfulness.


21 Ways to Reduce Stress in the Workday


1. Take a few minutes in the morning to be quiet and still. sit or lie down and just be with yourself.... gaze out the window, listen to the sounds of nature or take a slow quiet walk.

2. While your car is warming up, take a minute to quietly pay attention to your breathing.

3. While driving, become aware of body tension. Are your hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel? Are your shoulders raised? Stomach tight? Etc... Consciously work at releasing and dissolving that tension. Does being tense help you to drive better? What does it feel like to relax and drive?

4.Decide not to play the radio and just be with yourself.

5. Stay in the right lane and drive the speed limit.

6. Pay attention to your breathing or the sky , trees, etc when stopped at a red light or toll plaza.

7. After parking your car at your workplace, take a moment to orient yourself to your workday.

8. While sitting at your desk, keyboard, etc... monitor your bodily sensations and your tension levels and consciously attempt to relax and let go of the excess tension.

9. Use your breaks to truly relax rather than simply pause. For example- instead of having coffee and a cigarette, take a 5 minute walk, or sit at your desk and recoup.

10. At lunch try changing your environment. Go to a local park and eat your lunch at a picnic table while taking in the trees and the clouds in the sky.

11. Try closing the door to your office, if you have one, and take some time to consciously relax.

12. Decide to stop for 1 to 3 minutes each hour during the workday. Become aware of your breathing and body sensations. Use it as your personal time to regroup and recoup.

13. Use everyday cues in your environment as reminders to center yourself.--examples- telephone ringing, turning on the computer, etc.. Remember the "Little Green Dots".

14. Take some time at lunch or break to share with close associates. Choose topics non work related.

15. Choose to eat two or three lunches per week in silence. Use it as a time to eat slowly and savor the experience and to be with yourself.

16. At the end of the workday, retrace your activities of the day, acknowledging and congratulating yourself for what you've accomplished and make a list for tomorrow.

17. Pay attention to the walk to the car, breathing in the crisp air. The feeling of the cold or warmth of your body, try to accept it rather than resist it. Listen to the sounds outside the office. Can you walk without feeling rushed?

18. While your car is warming up, sit quietly and consciously make the transition from work to home. Take a moment to simply be; enjoy it for a moment. Like most of us, you are heading into your next full time job: home!

19. While driving, notice if you are rushing. What does it feel like? What could you do about it? Remember you've got more control than you can imagine.

20. When you pull into the driveway or park your vehicle, take a moment to come back to the present. Orient yourself to being with your family or household members.

21. Change out of work clothes when you get home: it helps to make a smoother transition into your next "role" You can spare five minutes to do this. Say hello to each of the family members and center yourself at home. If possible, make the time 5 to 10 minutes to be quiet and still each evening.


Please feel free to add to this list and create your own similar lists for practicing mindfulness throughout your day



I wish you peace and well being,

Duchess Divinity Wellsprings

The Two Emotions

I have said you have but two emotions, love and fear.  One is changeless but continually exchanged, being offered by the eternal to the eternal.  In this exchange it is extended, for it increases as it is given.  The other has many forms, for the content of individual illusions differs greatly.  Yet they have one thing in common; they are all insane. They are made of sights that are not seen, and sounds that are not heard.  They make up a private world that cannot be shared.  For they are meaningful only to their maker, and so they have no meaning at all.  In this world their maker moves alone, for only he perceives them.

Each one peoples his world with figures from his individual past, and it is because of this that private worlds do differ.  Yet the figures that he sees were never real, for they are made up only of his reactions to his brothers, and do not include their reactions to him.  Therefore, he does not see he made them, and that they are not whole.  For these figures have no witnesses, being perceived in one separate mind only.

It is through these strange and shadowy figures that the insane relate to their insane world.  For they see only those who remind them of these images, and it is to them that they relate.  Thus do they communicate with those who are not there, and it is they who answer them.  And no one hears their answer save him who called upon them, and he alone believes they answered him.  Projection makes perception, and you cannot see beyond it. Again and again have you attacked your brother, because you saw in him a shadow figure in your private world. And thus it is you must attack yourself first, for what you attack is not in others.  Its only reality is in your own mind, and by attacking others you are literally attacking what is not there.

The delusional can be very destructive, for they do not recognize they have condemned themselves.  They do not wish to die, yet they will not let condemnation go. And so they separate into their private worlds, where everything is disordered, and where what is within appears to be without.  Yet what is within they do not see, for the reality of their brothers they cannot recognize.

You have but two emotions, yet in your private world you react to each of them as though it were the other.  For love cannot abide in a world apart, where when it comes it is not recognized.  If you see your own hatred as your brother, you are not seeing him.  Everyone draws nigh unto what he loves, and recoils from what he fears.  And you react with fear to love, and draw away from it.  Yet fear attracts you, and believing it is love, you call it to yourself.  Your private world is filled with figures of fear you have invited into it, and all the love your brothers offer you, you do not see.

As you look with open eyes upon your world, it must occur to you that you have withdrawn into insanity.  You see what is not there, and you hear what makes no sound.  Your manifestations of emotions are the opposite of what the emotions are.  You communicate with no one, and you are as isolated from reality as if you were alone in all the universe.  In your madness you overlook reality completely, and you see only your own split mind everywhere you look. God calls you and you do not hear, for you are preoccupied with your own voice.  And the vision of Christ is not in your sight, for you look upon yourself alone.

Little child, would you offer this to your Father?  For if you offer it to yourself, you are offering it to Him.  And He will not return it, for it is unworthy of you because it is unworthy of Him.  Yet He would release you from it and set you free. His sane Answer tells you what you have offered yourself is not true, but His offering to you has never changed.  You who know not what you do can learn what insanity is, and look beyond it.  It is given you to learn how to deny insanity, and come forth from your private world in peace.  You will see all that you denied in your brothers because you denied it in yourself.  For you will love them, and by drawing nigh unto them you will draw them to yourself, perceiving them as witnesses to the reality you share with God.  I am with them as I am with you, and we will draw them from their private worlds, for as we are united so would we unite with them.  The Father welcomes all of us in gladness, and gladness is what we should offer Him.  For every Son of God is given you to whom God gave Himself.  And it is God Whom you must offer them, to recognize His gift to you.

 Vision depends on light.  You cannot see in darkness.  Yet in darkness, in the private world of sleep, you see in dreams although your eyes are closed.  And it is here that what you see you made.  But let the darkness go and all you made you will no longer see, for sight of it depends upon denying vision. Yet from denying vision it does not follow you cannot see.  But this is what denial does, for by it you accept insanity, believing you can make a private world and rule your own perception.  Yet for this, light must be excluded.  Dreams disappear when light has come and you can see.

Do not seek vision through your eyes, for you made your way of seeing that you might see in darkness, and in this you are deceived.  Beyond this darkness, and yet still within you, is the vision of Christ, Who looks on all in light.  Your "vision" comes from fear, as His from love.  And He sees for you, as your witness to the real world.  He is the Holy Spirit's manifestation, looking always on the real world, and calling forth its witnesses and drawing them to you.  He loves what He sees within you, and He would extend it.  And He will not return unto the Father until He has extended your perception even unto Him.  And there perception is no more, for He has returned you to the Father with Him.

You have but two emotions, and one you made and one was given you.  Each is a way of seeing, and different worlds arise from their different sights.  See through the vision that is given you, for through Christ's vision He beholds Himself.  And seeing what He is, He knows His Father.  Beyond your darkest dreams He sees God's guiltless Son within you, shining in perfect radiance that is undimmed by your dreams.  And this you will see as you look with Him, for His vision is His gift of love to you, given Him of the Father for you.

The Holy Spirit is the light in which Christ stands revealed.  And all who would behold Him can see Him, for they have asked for light.  Nor will they see Him alone, for He is no more alone than they are.  Because they saw the Son, they have risen in Him to the Father.  And all this will they understand, because they looked within and saw beyond the darkness the Christ in them, and recognized Him.  In the sanity of His vision they looked upon themselves with love, seeing themselves as the Holy Spirit sees them.  And with this vision of the truth in them came all the beauty of the world to shine upon them.

Practical Well- Being

 

Hello, Ya Ya Sisters!  I will be writing mostly about practical well-being.  When the body, mind, and spirit are in balance, we feel at our best and we do our best.  Most of us want a happier, healthier life, but aren’t able to make a big time and energy commitment to things like reading, exercise, and meditation.  I’d like to pass on some things I’ve learned that are quick and easy and helpful, in other words, practical to well-being.  Any feedback/comments will be appreciated, and answered.

 

SLEEP

 

 

We all know how important a good night’s sleep is to our well-being, but often it’s hard to get. If you’re tossing and turning because you can’t get comfortable, or have too much on your mind and maybe know you have to be sharp for work the next morning, this technique works for me.

 

Before starting, situate yourself comfortably in bed and close your eyes.  Then, slowly, do five “I see…”  You say to yourself, slowly and calmly, five things you see.  Of course, in this case your eyes are closed, so you say something like, “I see darkness,” or “I see the inside of my eye lids,” or “I see shades of gray.”  Just notice what you see, and slowly and calmly say five things that you notice, and it’s okay to repeat. 

 

Next, do five “I hear...”  Again, slowly and calmly, say what you hear.  For example, “I hear the fan,” or even simply “I hear quiet.”  Just say five things, and again, it’s okay to repeat.  If at any time you notice you're uncomfortable as your body relaxes for sleep, simply readjust yourself – just do it as calmly as you can.  Often at this step I have to readjust myself for comfort, so I say, for example, “I hear my head moving on the pillow.”

 

Next, do five “I feel….”  Are you with me?  For me, it’s often, “I feel the comfort of soft sheets,” or “I feel the blanket on my hand.”  Just say, slowly and calmly, what you feel.  This is another chance to readjust for comfort, if necessary.  “I feel myself readjust.”

 

After that, do four “I see,” and four “I hear,” and four “I feel.”  Most of the time I’m asleep before I finish with the “fours,” but if not, I go on to three, then two, then one of each.  A couple of times I was still awake at the end, and I started over with five.  It didn’t take much longer before I was sleeping comfortably.

 

Let us know how this works for you.

 

Sweet Dreams!

 

 

Lady Inspired Heart