Five More Mindful Ideas for Your Work Week

15 Aug, 2011 Mindful Monday Presence and Peace Permalink

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling unusually tense and sort of snappish.

I’m not good at waiting, especially on outcomes that I can’t control.  I’m waiting on results from health tests and I’m waiting to get used to the idea that my father is selling my childhood home (which I’m okay with in my head, if you know what I mean but my heart is struggling).

BHT 015 200x300 Five More Mindful Ideas for Your Work WeekOh wait, I temporarily forgot that there is very little that I can control.  What’s the line from the Serenity Prayer about knowing the difference between what I can change and what I can’t?

Have you noticed that tension is oozing from the news (which I try not to delve too deeply into these days because I’ve decided politics may make me physically ill), the oppressive heat wave and from so many individuals you encounter?

What’s up with all this tension?

Do you think it has anything at all to do with a lack of mindfulness?

Ouch.  It hurts for me to admit.

The good news is that we have tools to get us back into a peaceful presence of mind.  It’s my hope that you’ll take these five quotes for your work week–one per day–and thoroughly immerse yourself in them.

I’m setting the intention.  Will you join me?  Choose one per day, focus on that one only and move on to the next day’s quote that speaks to you.  I’ll love to hear how they help pull you back into your precious present.

Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

When we are in the midst of chaos, let go of the need to control it. Be awash in it, experience it in that moment, try not to control the outcome but deal with the flow as it comes.

Leo Babauta, author of Zen Habits

Be a lamp unto yourselves! Work out your liberation with diligence! Fill your mind with compassion!

Buddha

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.

The Gospel of Thomas

We should notice that we are already supported at every moment. There is the earth below our feet and there is the air, filling our lungs and emptying them. We should begin from this when we need support.

Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down The Bones: Freeing The Writer Within

Have a Magnificent Mindful week!

B Well,

Beth

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2 Comments

  1. Cathy | Treatment Talk says:
    August 15, 2011 at 11:57 pm

    Great quotes. I will definitely remember those. The serenity Prayer comes in handy during so many of life’s challenges. Best of luck with your test results and the sale of your home. It is always hard to let go of important things from our past.

    Reply
  2. Beth Wilson says:
    August 16, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    Boy, is it ever, Cathy! My parents built and then raised my brother and me in that 46-year-old simple house. With my mom gone now, my dad longs for an unencumbered life, and though I don’t blame him, it’s so hard not to think, but I planted those trees in the backyard!

    Isn’t that the nature of life, though, and the beauty of being present to our actions? Do something with love and then let it go . . .

    And I’m with you on the Serenity Prayer. It continues to be one of my “go-to’s”.

    B Well, my friend.

    Beth

    Reply

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