What is mindfulness?
Last updated on 3rd November 2011
I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.
- Rabindranath Tagore
Yesterday we had the twelfth & final session of this "Life skills" evening class. There was scheduled to have been a bit less than a three month gap since the last - eleventh - session. However the heavy winter snow we'd experienced had resulted in this last session being postponed.
When I get to heaven, God will not ask me, "Why were you not Moses?" He will ask, "Why were you not Susya? Why did you not become what only you could become?" - Susya, a Hasidic Rabbi
Never waste a good crisis.
- Winston Churchill (attributed)
I wrote yesterday about the first part of this tenth "Life skills" evening. I particularly discussed development of Goodwill practice - very much in the "Nourishing positive states" section of the "Four aspects" diagram (below). In the second half of the evening we moved on to the "Exploring & processing" section of the diagram with the introduction particularly of various forms of therapeutic writing.
The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.
- J. K. Galbraith
If you want others to be happy, practise compassion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion. Dalai Lama
A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor
- Franklin Roosevelt
Yesterday was the ninth evening of this "Life skills" training. I wrote about the eighth session last week. The sequence of regular weekly classes now moves on to increasing gaps between sessions - so it's three weeks until the tenth, a further five weeks until the eleventh, and then an additional eleven weeks until the final twelfth session. My hope is that we will be able to arrange occasional follow-up meetings even after that.
Fortis fortuna adiuvat. Fortune favours the brave.
- Terence
Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.
- Warren Buffet
Better keep yourself clean and bright. You are the window through which you must see the world. - George Bernard Shaw
Yesterday we had the sixth session of this twelve evening "Life skills" course. I wrote last week about the fifth session. A dozen slides covering material we explored are viewable/downloadable at slides 1-6, Powerpoint or slides 1-6, PDF and slides 7-12, Powerpoint or slides 7-12, PDF.