Using Meditation to Retrain Our Attention – A Great Video Presentation!

Daniel Goleman - Part 1 from WhatMeditationReallyIs on Vimeo. I just finished watching this video-presentation by Daniel Goleman and what strikes me most is the simplicity of the phrase that he uses, "attentional retraining." In these two words, we are reminded of what is is that we're working with during meditation - our attention - and what we're doing - retraining it. Sometimes, when we're working with our mind and practicing meditation, something as simple as remembering the phrase, "attentional retraining" is all that it takes to bring us back to our practice. Suppose that I sit down to meditate, [...]

2011-09-08T17:43:32-06:00By |Meditation, Mindfulness|0 Comments
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Meditation Isn’t About Arriving Somewhere; You’re Already There!

A colloquialism favored in the state of Maine is that you can't get there from here, or - spoken as a Mainer  "you can't get they-ah from he-ah." But, why talk about Maine when the topics of this blog are mindfulness, awareness and compassion at the bedside? (with bits of the mundane daily stuff tossed in for grins) The "from here" that we work with when beginning meditation is our ordinary - some might say deluded - mind. And, the "there" that we're working to achieve to some degree is a state free from delusions, free from distractions. The premise of [...]

2011-09-06T17:45:45-06:00By |Meditation|0 Comments
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How to Overcome Distraction While Practicing Compassionate Meditation

Recently, while doing a meditation practice based on compassion, I found - much to my dismay - that my focus was anywhere but on my practice. What made it even worse (and even embarrassing) was that I was doing the practice for a friend of mine who had experienced a significant medical emergency. In a previous post in this site, Forget About Yourself, Meditate for the Sake of Others!, we discussed using our meditation as an opportunity to meditate for the benefit of others. But, what about when we are meditating for the benefit of others and can't even bring [...]

2014-08-25T17:46:09-06:00By |Compassion, Meditation|4 Comments
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Minding the Bedside, Watching the Clouds. It’s All Meditation!!

In previous posts we've discussed how to work with the breath as an anchor for taming the mind, bringing our attention into the present, and maintaining an attention of moment-to-moment awareness. We've also covered how to work with thoughts, sensations, emotions, and...even sleepiness!! When caring for others, in this case, at the bedside, as a healthcare professional, we can use all of the methods that we've learned to ground out attention in the moment, for those we care for. Minding the bedside aware and compassionately comes from realizing the changing nature of our thoughts and from turning and returning the [...]

2014-09-08T23:42:42-06:00By |Nursing|2 Comments
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Meditating On…My Birthday!

Today is my birthday. I'll be celebrating by taking a day off from the blog and book-work. I'll be out in nature, meditating and relaxing. But, I just wanted to offer you this wonderful gem from Sogyal Rinpoche's Glimpse of the Day. Enjoy!   August 23 If you find that meditation does not come easily in your city room, be inventive and go out into nature. Nature is always an unfailing fountain of inspiration. To calm your mind, go for a walk at dawn in the park, or watch the dew on a rose in a garden. Lie on the [...]

2011-08-22T22:41:11-06:00By |Meditation|0 Comments
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Meditation in the Workplace…Meditating at the Bedside?

The topic of bringing our meditation practice into our workplace, whether as a nurse or as a supermarket cashier, requires of us an understanding of what we mean when we use the word, "meditate." For many people, meditation brings up images of monks or solitary souls seated on a cushion, mumbling "om" with incense and candles. Sure, that can be meditation, but more often than not, this isn't the case. And, in the case of how we bring our meditation practice to the bedside, these images don't represent what a meditative presence truly embodies when caring for another. As was [...]

2014-09-08T23:41:58-06:00By |Nursing|3 Comments
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Meditation With Death in Mind (memento mori!)

We’ve discussed and shared a lot of different aspects of meditation and how to work with the mind on this site. One topic that we haven’t strayed into is how working with one’s mind can not only affect the quality of one’s life and the lives of those around us, but also how the stability that we can find in learning to meditate can also help us when we or our loved ones approach the transition of life into death. The Latin words memento mori—“remember death” or “remember that you must die”—were used in ancient Rome and in medieval times [...]

2019-08-12T17:47:25-06:00By |Nursing|3 Comments
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Don’t Do Doubt! Four Steps to Work with Doubt When Meditating

Recently I participated in a bicycle ride, the Colorado Triple Bypass, which is a 120-mile ride with 10,000 feet of elevation gain, over three mountain-passes…all in one day! I've already posted on some of the experiences that I had in working with my mind while preparing for this endeavor. One challenge I didn’t share was my experience of doubt while training. When encountering my doubt, I came to realize that it was such a great lesson for me that it may be of some use to readers of this blog. There are many reasons that people meditate. Some meditate to [...]

2011-08-05T01:02:35-06:00By |Meditation, Mindfulness|2 Comments
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