By Dr. Ron Passfield
In an earlier post, I described a meditation process for handling fear that Tara Brach described by the acronym, R.A.I.N. – standing for Recognise, Accept, Investigate and Nurture. In the current discussion, I would like to introduce a mindfulness meditation for addressing fear that is discussed and facilitated by Diana Winston. In the meditation podcast, … Continue reading “Handling Fear with Mindfulness”
So much of our daily lives is taken up with focusing on things that are external to ourselves – social media, meetings, conversations about recent events, driving our car or trying to catch a train or bus to work. Our thoughts are often racing as we plan, evaluate and critique. As a consequence, we spend … Continue reading “Focusing Inward to See Clearly”
So often we can be off-balance, caught up in concerns about the future or worry about the past. Alternatively, our minds can be racing from one thought to another. If we lack awareness in the present moment, we will miss opportunities, make poor decisions, create work and stress for ourselves and find that our productivity, … Continue reading “Being Grounded”
Resilience in a work context does not mean being able to endure a toxic work environment or unfair situation – it is not the equivalent of endurance. Resilience is about our capacity to rebound or “bounce back” from a negative or personally challenging experience. In a work situation, the negative experience could be the loss … Continue reading “Building Resilience”
Mornings can be hectic times as we prepare for work and/or get the children to school. More often than not, we might have a quick snack which we “gobble down” and grab a coffee on the way to work. We arrive at work and/or the school in a hurry, shouting at people who get in … Continue reading “Intention Setting in the Morning”
Randy Pausch in his last lecture and in his book, The Last Lecture, had a lot to say about resilience. His lecture at Carnegie Mellon University, designed to leave a life skills legacy for his children, focused on the realisation of childhood dreams. Randy maintained that nothing should stop you from realising your childhood dreams and … Continue reading “Randy Pausch on Resilience”
Randy Pausch, the author of The Last Lecture, was a Professor of Computer Science at the Carnegie Mellon University specialising in the design of Virtual Reality. He died from pancreatic cancer on 25 July 2008 after being diagnosed with the disease in the summer of 2006. Randy’s book traces his life, his medical experience, giving … Continue reading “The Last Lecture – Mindful Living”
Diana Winston in her meditation podcast, Working with Pain, offers some suggestions on how meditation can be used to alleviate and/or manage pain better. She highlights the fact that along with pain are the stories that we tell ourselves about the pain we are experiencing, e.g. “This pain will never go way.”, This is ruining … Continue reading “Mindfulness and Dealing with Pain”
Marvin Belzer provides guidance in a meditation podcast on “paying attention”. Marvin was on the faculty of UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the time. He has many years experience with practicising and teaching meditation, having taught a semester-long course on the theory and practice of mindfulness. Among other things, he provides meditations for teens … Continue reading “Paying Attention”
Caroline Welch, Co-founder with Dan Siegel of the Mindsight Institute, presented at the Mindfulness at Work Summit on the topic of the 4P’s of mindfulness at work. The 4P’s are covered at length in her book, The Gift of Presence: A Mindfulness Guide for Women, published in 2020. Caroline’s aim with the book is to … Continue reading “The 4P’s of Mindfulness in the Workplace”
