Positive Pause – 28th March, 2016 – The Secret of Mindfulness

the secret of mindfulness
The secret of mindfulness in 5 sentences:

  1. The most important moment in your life is NOW.
  2. The most important person is the one you are with NOW.
  3. The most important activity is what you are doing NOW.
  4. The most important & easy way to be happy is to make somebody else happy NOW.
  5. The best way to create a future is to be mindful NOW.
Unknown-Thai Buddhist Monk
Source Deepak Chopra Foundation

Positive Pause – 21st March 2016 – Enjoy Waiting

Enjoy WaitingHow do you respond to being asked to wait? Enjoy waiting

This week, observe how you behave when you are required to wait for something whether it is a bus, a friend, a coffee, an email, an answer. Check in with how you respond to being asked to wait.  See if you can embrace this waiting time as a gift rather than an inconvenience. Many of us feel our frustration building when we are in a queue or stuck in traffic. In this digital age have become programmed for immediate gratification and  our brains have become wired for instant hits. However, this impulse to get what we want NOW works against us and creates cortisol (the stress hormone) when our needs are not immediately met.

Part of the mindfulness movement is about creating “brain breaks” from our over-scheduled minds; when we are required to wait, life presents us with a golden opportunity to enjoy the moment when nothing is expected of us but to simply be. Changing our perspective on waiting from frustration to mental freedom from doing allows life to flow positively at all times.

This week, enjoy waiting!

The Positive Pause – 14th March 2016 – Promise Yourself

I just had to share this poem, written by Christian Daa Larson (1874-1954).  Larson was the founder  of the New Thought Movement in America.  The New Thought Movement was a group of philosophical thinkers who held the belief that optimism and positive thinking played an integral role in our health. Promise yourself

This week, make the commitment to say this poem to yourself.

To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.”

― Christian D. Larson, Your Forces and How to Use Them

Positive Pause – 7th March 2016 – Thinking Outside Yourself

Large sunflower - think outside yourselfAs the evenings are becoming brighter, if you find the opportunity to go for a walk one evening this week, take it! A gentle, solitary stroll where you focus all of your attention outside yourself on what you can see, hear and smell is a good mental workout to calm a busy mind after a stressful or long day. By choosing to use your focus in this way, you will be open to a general sense of calm and well-being.  You may even allow yourself to experience the wonder of hearing the birds sing at twilight. Thinking outside youself