contemplation Archives - Minding The Bedside

For Black Friday…Meditate! How to Use Meditation to Spend Less…

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to...meditate? No, shop! Or, is it time to meditate on why we shop, why we consume hoping to find some outer reward to our thirst for something...new, different? Time to find happiness in...Target? Nordstroms? Amazon? How often have you felt an urge to go out and buy something, only to find that after you'd bought whatever it was, there was still a hollow place inside? Have you ever been really stressed out and felt like a little "retail therapy" was just the thing that you needed to remove your negative thinking? What [...]

2021-11-30T14:15:00-07:00By Jerome Stone|Meditation|0 Comments

How to Watch the Cloud-Like Thoughts Within Our Mind

MEDITATION TIP OF THE WEEK ...IS A SERIES OF SHORT, EASY TO REMEMBER, AND BASIC TIPS ON HOW TO MEDITATE. PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK, IS IT HELPFUL? When Meditating, Understand Thoughts to be Like Clouds Minding one's life mindfully, aware, and compassionately comes from realizing the changing nature of our thoughts. We do this by turning the mind inward, transforming the stormy arisings of thoughts, emotions, and feelings by recognizing them to be impermanent phenomena like passing clouds in the sky. Minding one's life mindfully comes from realizing that whatever thoughts and emotions may be stirred up [...]

2019-10-24T13:44:49-06:00By Jerome Stone|Meditation Tip of the Week|3 Comments

Our Meditative Mind Reminds Us of Compassion While Minding the Bedside

How can we call remaining in the present “meditation?” Is meditation merely a state of non-distraction? When do you find yourself most present? Most distracted? Whether distracted or present, each moment is an opportunity, an invitation, to meditate. Many people assume that we mediate by finding a cushion or quiet place and then sit, motionless, in a state of calm bliss. But, every moment that we’re awake can also be a moment when we’re aware. Each Moment is an Invitation to Practice Each moment that we’re present, whether with our family, friends, or those we care for, is a moment [...]

2019-02-26T11:58:19-07:00By Jerome Stone|Compassion, Nursing|1 Comment

When Meditating, Don’t Give in To Distraction – 10 Tips On How to Stay Focused…

Distraction Isn't Your Enemy! Considering that the main objective of meditation is to arrive at a state of non-distraction without altering our mind, how do we deal with the fact that distraction seems to be the one thing that prevents us from meditating? Is there some easy way to deal with our tendency to get distracted? After all, we'd probably all be excellent at meditation if it weren't for the fact that we get so distracted during our meditation. And, it's this distraction that can become the most frustrating and cause us to abandon our meditation practice in favor of [...]

2019-02-26T13:42:40-07:00By Jerome Stone|Meditation, Mindfulness|5 Comments

Losing Compassion at the Bedside? Five Instant Tips….

COMPASSION ISN'T OUTSIDE OF YOU Compassion isn't something foreign to our minds and our hearts. It isn't something "out there" that we have to get or acquire. And, it isn't something that we need to learn (although we may need to remember it at times). Granted, there are times when we feel that to find even the smallest compassionate impulse for certain patients requires of us the most Herculean effort. There are also times when, either due to the amount of stress that we're experiencing, or the number of patients we're dealing with, it doesn't feel like there's "...enough to go [...]

2019-01-17T14:22:08-07:00By Jerome Stone|Compassion, Nursing|7 Comments

How to Meditate: Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts…Five Key Points

For meditators, old and new, expert and novice, thoughts arise within the landscape of the mind. The difference is in how the experienced versus the novice meditator deals with these thoughts. How we are with out thoughts when we meditate will determine, to a great extent, how our meditation can benefit ourselves and others. If we're intimidated by thoughts, or have a difficult relationship with what arises within our mind when we meditate, then our ability to take our "meditative mind" into our daily life and integrate meditation into our life will be a difficult journey. The whole endeavor of [...]

2012-01-31T10:46:50-07:00By Jerome Stone|Meditation|1 Comment

How to Meditate? Ten Essentials to a Great Meditation Practice

Wow, I hope that this title doesn't seem out of place here. I mean, after all, I've been posting on meditation, on its benefits, and on research into meditation now for almost a year. So, why would I post something as "basic" as how to meditate? (and what does a picture of 1000 meditating monks have to do with anything?!?) The basics of meditation, while simple, aren't always obvious when we read about how to meditate. Nor are they obvious in how we engage in our practice of meditation. We've discussed a lot of the "how tos" of meditation in [...]

2011-11-02T16:37:12-06:00By Jerome Stone|Meditation, Mindfulness|4 Comments

How Do You Meditate in Daily Life? Integration in Four Easy Pieces….

Frequently I'm asked what my day looks like and how I practice meditation in a busy life. Since preparing to publish my book, Minding the Bedside: Nursing from the Heart of the Awakened Mind, and starting my own business, the unfortunate fact is that the time for my "formal" practice has suffered. Yet, while I lament and moan about the lack of time to formally practice, it seems like the integration of practice into my daily life, and my ability to take life onto the path, has increased. While there really is no substitute for formal practice in terms of [...]

2011-10-25T11:49:30-06:00By Jerome Stone|Meditation|0 Comments

Politics Getting to You? Meditate on Compassion – Four Steps…

Can meditation on compassion change the way that we view politics? Regardless of our political inclinations or leanings, we are all subject to the political fracas that erupts years before Presidential elections, and that is almost ongoing in the general and special elections within the local political arena. Do you ever get the impression that many of these politicians, regardless of their party, don't have any idea of how badly we all want things to change for the benefit of everyone? For instance, I don't think that any of us want Medicare to disappear, leaving the elderly in dire straits. [...]

2014-08-25T17:45:31-06:00By Jerome Stone|Compassion, Meditation|1 Comment

Why Practice Meditation Every Day? Five Great Reasons

What Is the Benefit of Practicing Meditation? On this site, we've discussed how to deal with thoughts, emotions, sensations...even sleepiness while trying to meditate. Those are the "how tos," but how about the why? Why meditate? Or, even if we know the why of meditation, why practice? This question is partially answered when you consider the obstacles (mentioned above) to our meditation; if we don't practice, how do we know whether we're progressing on our path? Almost daily, I experience situations where I wish that my "meditative mind" was in charge instead of my habitually distracted mind. Does this ever [...]

2012-11-28T12:40:00-07:00By Jerome Stone|Meditation|3 Comments