Why Mindfulness?

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. Viktor E. Frankl

Mindfulness, at essence, means being focused on the present. Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), defines it as: “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally"

There has, in recent years, been a surge of interest in the practice of mindfulness as being therapeutic for mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, as well a valuable contributor to general wellbeing.

This post considers the origins of mindfulness, its potential benefits, and how it may be incorporated into busy modern life. (more…)

How to Stop Procrastinating

Procrastination is something most of us are guilty of at one time or another. Essentially it means avoiding or delaying things that you ought to be doing and instead using the time for less important but more pleasurable things. Eg watching TV with a take-out meal when you should be taking exercise or tackling that mountain of dull but necessary paperwork.

Why do I Procrastinate?

Simply put, we procrastinate because we favor the pleasure of the moment over something less pleasurable that might bring greater pleasure (or avoid displeasure) in the future. (more…)

Wisdom of The Serenity Prayer

In just three lines, Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer (as adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous) encapsulates a profound philosophy of life.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

We are each endowed with free will, but are bounded by external circumstance, personal limitation and the choices of others. We each have finite energy/resources but are exposed to numerous (infinite?) competing options/demands as to how these are employed. (more…)

The Power of Positive Thought

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars - Oscar Wilde.

Positive thought is about the recognition that we are empowered with a degree of control over our destiny. It is the realization that by doing our best along a pathway that is right we achieve as much as we possibly can. Doing this brings the knowledge and satisfaction that we could have done no more.

Positive thought is not about optimism or pessimism. These are related to future expectation. It’s easier for an optimist to think positively; but even a natural pessimist can adopt a positive attitude, though they expect the worst they can recognize that a positive approach in the here and now will affect the future and make it not so bad as it might have been. (more…)

The Power of Focus

Isn’t life amazing? Though sometimes frustrating, overwhelming, even infuriating, our journey through the material world is a truly fantastic adventure filled with potential for fulfilment and pleasure. But how many of are actually taking advantage of all that is on offer? Or to put it another way, how many of us are simply coasting through on cruise control and missing much of what’s out there?

Life is certainly complex. Numerous things demand our attention, and in the final analysis most of these urgencies are utterly meaningless. Have we paid the gas bill?, remembered Mrs X’s birthday?, chosen the right outfit for the company “do”?….. The list is endless. The trouble is, with so much noise, can we even hear – never mind respond to – the real message? (more…)

Living in the Moment

Live not for tomorrow,
yearn not for the past,
live only for the moment,
it’s all that is ours.

These words should be obvious, but how many of us find it so difficult to focus our attention on the moment.

Perhaps as an attempt to abdicate personal responsibility we too often tend to fall into one of two traps. Either our attention is fixed upon the past, memories of how it was, and how it was so much better than now… Or we imagine that everything will be alright tomorrow. Only tomorrow never comes!

If we can look back at the past and identify happy times, that is great. Some can only remember sadness. Of course it does no harm at all to reminisce from time to time. But, for whatever reason we have been “spared” to exist in the present and so it is our implicit duty to make the most of that most precious of times – now. (more…)

Purpose and Motivation

A Personal Manifesto

The motives we display often differ from our true purpose. Finding and pursuing that true purpose is a major part of life’s mission. I hope these words may help you maximize your motivation through discovering and aligning with your true purpose, and in so doing find both happiness and fulfillment during this journey we call life. (more…)