Posts Tagged ‘mindfulness exercises’
“Leaves on a Stream” – Cognitive Defusion Exercise
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) provides us with the tools to practice cognitive defusion, which is the willingness to let go of the attachment and over-identification with thoughts that cause suffering. When fusion to thoughts becomes problematic, those thoughts become “true” and “real” in…
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Mindfulness Exercise: Relationship Expectations
“Relationship is a mirror in which you can see yourself.” – Krishnamurti Difficulties in relationships often arise as a result of mismatched or unrealistic expectations. When we expect someone to behave in a certain way, we become attached to that expectation and become easily disappointed or frustrated if they do not act as expected. Expectations are…
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12 Steps to Becoming Less Fearful of Emotions
“Feelings are much like waves, we can’t stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf.” – Jonatan Mårtensson When emotions seem overwhelming or painful, it is a natural response to want to avoid these emotions as much as possible. After all, who would “want” to feel angry, sad, or anxious? The paradox…
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How to Develop Mindfulness
“Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it.” – Buddha The choice to live a mindfulness-based life does not happen overnight, nor does it come “easily.” Like all skills, mindfulness requires practice. The rationale…
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Cultivate a State of “Flow”
“A good life consists of more than simply the totality of enjoyable experiences. It must also have a meaningful pattern, a trajectory of growth that results in the development of increasing emotional, cognitive, and social complexity.” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Many people have experienced a state of “flow” when they feel alive, fully present, and meaningfully connected…
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“Doing” Mode vs. “Being” Mode
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.” – Henry David Thoreau Most of us spend a large amount of our daily lives working towards “doing stuff” and “getting things done.” We may even become extraordinarily efficient and skilled in our ability to multitask and accomplish…
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Set Your Intentions & Live Deliberately
“Think like a man of action; act like a man of thought.” – Henri L. Bergson Intention is all about purpose. It is your directed attention and the hopes that you wish to achieve through an action. If you’re cooking dinner, your intention is likely to eat that dinner. If you’re driving to work and…
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Dealing with Disappointment
“The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.” – Robert Kiyosaki We all know the feeling of disappointment. Sometimes it is experienced as an emotional blow to the stomach, taking your breath away. Other times it might…
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When Things Don’t Go Your Way
”Seek not to have that everything should happen as you wish, but wish for everything to happen as it actually does happen, and you will be serene.” – Epictetus We often find ourselves in situations that we would prefer not to be in. Perhaps we “planned” on having a fun time and it turned out…
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Mindfulness & Shopping
“But it is a cold, lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy something, which does not represent your life and talent, but a goldsmith’s.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Many people go into a state of mindless autopilot when shopping. This is characterized by a sense of being numb, going through the motions,…
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