Tips for Mindful Living and Writing

Tips for Mindful Living and Writing

The weeks between Thanksgiving Day to the New Year’s Eve I posted Tips on Twitter for Mindful Living and Writing. In case you missed them here they are, somewhat modified.

Converse, laugh with family & friends! Savor foods! Enjoy a movie! Hug. Kiss. Give from heart not hand!

If irritation or anger envelops you, stay mum. Learn to create a silent space around you. It protects you from regret and embarrassment.

If you hurt someone in anger have moxie to apologize. If someone hurts you have confidence to let him or her know. Have courage to verbalize your convictions. It will keep you sane.

Gift giving is a charming tradition. Give generously. Accept gracefully. If you do not receive keep giving. Give whole day but in kind, not cash. Give so that no one notices.

Holiday season has passed. Let’s welcome winter, the season of stillness, snow and cold! And of imagination and contemplation. In other seasons attention turns outward. But in winter the flow of life slows down. January to March are months of inward focus. Long walks outdoors and savoring hearty foods with loved ones turns cold into warmth.

Journaling each morning helps discard the flotsam & jetsam of daily living. When mind’s slate is clean you tend to think before talking or acting. The practice balances, makes surroundings peaceful that magnetizes people.

Yet the most profound source of balance is meditation. Body, heart and mind meditations combined with journaling and silent meditation undoubtedly ground the practitioner. The daily practice attunes you to slow rhythm of frigid days and long nights. It grounds you in the Self.

In the depth of meditation and journaling, your spiritual values and core strength get consolidated. First thing that churns up to the surface is the junk of life, then solutions to immediate problems float up, and finally rises the calm of contemplation. Your mind is still, ego is at rest and heart is peaceful. Released from the prison of the past and future your capabilities flow in your writing and daily living.

Mindfulness not only teaches you to focus on breathing but also makes you aware. Always! When you are mindful or mindless, in meditation or interacting with others. Mindfulness keeps your attention on what you are thinking, doing or saying. At first it may feel impossible to practice. But after twenty-one days of paying attention to your body, feelings and thoughts it becomes an involuntary habit.

How can you teach yourself to be mindful? By practicing meditation. Attention is a muscle that is strengthened by the practice of meditation. So begin or begin again. Sit still silently for ten minutes. Recharge your batteries. Increase your well-being.

Motto for 2015:

REVISE YOUR DAY AND GO DEEPER WITHIN!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!