Exploring Resilience via Lifes Burning Issues

Tag: meditation (Page 5 of 5)

Have you contemplated your death?

Have you contemplated your own death?

skull and crossbones by antmoose @flickr

Have you ever contemplated your own death?

DEATH… it’s not a subject that many people want to contemplate, but it is inevitable and none of us get out of this life alive! 

Due to my profession and the community work that I have chosen to be engaged in death is a subject that I regularly encounter, but over the past day a couple of things have crossed my path that led to me asking you the question about contemplating your death, so I thought I would share them with you…

from the Dhammapada…

Firstly a section of the Dhammapada, that deals with ageing and death:

“Look at the body adorned, A mass of wounds, draped upon a heap of bones, A sickly thing, this subject of sensual thoughts! Neither permanent, nor enduring!

The body wears out, A nest of disease, Fragile, disintegrating, ending in death.” 

from an outstanding blogger…

yet another timely and astounding piece from Jessica Hagy that she has titled “The Crux of Deathbed Regrets”

from a set of lessons which help guide my life..

“… a time will most assuredly come when death that great leveler of all mankind, reduces us to the same state and the best and the brightest of us knows not when…”

Your death?

If you contemplate your own immortality, and the reality that your time is limited but you just don’t know how limited, what does your own death mean to you?

Now that this thought is in the forefront of your mind… what people matter most in your life and what are you going to do about showing them how much you appreciate them?

Share your thoughts in the comments…

How a doorknob can keep you sane

The light can shine from a doorknob!

OK you’re thinking Mick has lost the plot…. he’s talking about door knobs and sanity, two subjects that surely don’t belong in the same post!

But wait…. it’s not as crazy as it sounds.

How many times do you put your hand on a doorknob in any day? Interesting question isn’t it, I bet your mind is now trying to fly through a day doing a quick tally of how many times you open a door.

OK OK… but what has  doorknob got to do with my sanity you’re asking?

Well that depends. If you are prepared to STOP for a second or two everytime you put your hand on a doorknob it could have a LOT to do with your sanity.

The doorknob was deliberately chosen because it is something that we frequently touch yet put little thought into. It is precisely these things that offer us a chance to become more mindful and to create a moment of calmness and clarity many times over during our day.

A doorknob for a moment of clarity.

If every time we put our hand on a doorknob throughout the day we pause, take a deep breath, relax our shoulders and briefly examine what is rushing through our heads, and ask ourselves a couple of quick questions we have an opportunity to take part in many mini meditations everyday.

What Questions?

The questions can be tailored to meet our individual needs but a good starting list of questions are:

What am I feeling right now?

Why am I feeling like this?

What am I about to do?

What is my intention on going through this door?

Who am I going to meet on the other side of the door?

Am I ready to really “meet” with them, and give them my FULL attention?

Other options?

The other option is to simply take the moment to relax yourself to take that deep breath, relax the shoulders, pull your posture up a bit straighter and experience the calmness that this brings, and carry that with you through the door and into the next part of your day.

The Challenge!

I dare you to take the doorknob sanity test. Choose a time-frame, a day or week and every time you put your hand on a doorknob do one of these mini meditations…. You never know you just might find that like in the picture for this post the light CAN shine from a doorknob!

creative commons image in this post by Dospaz

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