Mindfulness Challenges

Deeper Meaning Behind a Vision Quest

We have certainly all discovered in our personal lives the incredible value of focus and the incredible value of setting goals. It works.

When we get up in the day …
When we have a clear vision of exactly what we want to accomplish that day …
When we have a very specific plan …

We are able to implement this plan and by the end of the day it is done. Finished. We can accomplish precisely the goal that we established the first thing in the morning.

When we do this day after day and when we have an overall vision of where we are headed, we become very successful individuals. Focus works. It succeeds. It allows us to make miracles happen in our lives.

There is however, a formidable downside to focus. With focus we are narrow mindedly center on a very tiny aspect of what it means to be alive, of what it means to feel the full pleasure of occupying a body. One of the serious consequences of focus is that we pump out our adrenaline minute after minute. Our bodies never have the opportunity to settle into that delicious state of relaxation. When our bodies are pumping out adrenaline continuously, it is no wonder that after a few years our hormones are completely whacked. It is no wonder that the body says,

“Hey, there’s no real need or necessity for me to manufacture any dopamine because this body isn’t asking for it and doesn’t need it.”

Of course, without dopamine our bodies suffer serious neurological implications.

The idea of a vision quest as an exercise – and I might say, a very simple exercise at that – is to invite you to acknowledge and honor the value of focus but concurrently to recognize how that has narrowed experience of living life to its fullest. Open up a vision of seeing what is missed moment-to-moment. Lo and behold – you begin to take in the full pleasures, the full wonders of what the world has to offer. When we focus our awareness on the miracles of the moment our 40 or so hormones are invited to come back into full balance and harmony.

A vision quest then is an invitation to open up a narrow focus wider and wider and wider each time you sit; so that –

By the end of the week
By the end of the month
By the end of the year

You make it habit to take in with your vision the deliciousness of what it means to be present to your world in a fully occupied body.

You can still focus. You can still set goals. But, at the same time it is possible to open up your vision of what you are seeing moment-to-moment. The vision quest is most successful when you are in environments that are totally familiar.

There will be pictures that you hung years ago that you actually haven’t looked at or taken in for perhaps decades. Do that now.

There are items – perhaps knickknacks – in the room where you are sitting now. Notice their eloquence and detail today. Appreciate them in a new way.

Outside there are birds and critters that you may seldom stop to observe or even notice. Notice them now. Observe their beauty.

Notice how your body immediately settles into a place of deep relaxation.

The symptoms of Parkinson’s are no longer able to rear their ugly head when stress is not present. Bringing yourself into a place of centeredness and balance moment to moment means that stress cannot be a part of who you are in that moment.

Enjoy your vision quest for the rest of the week. Every time you sit down find something new to look at. Take the image in fully and completely. Enjoy the deliciousness of what it means to be alive and in a physical body.

Robert

Vision Quest

You are cordially invited to pursue a Vision Quest this week. What in the world do I mean by a Vision Quest? The Vision Quest I propose is not about going out into the forest and sitting in a circle for four days without food or water. So, stay with me on this one. The Vision Quest I have in mind is actually simple to do, yet profound.

The Vision Quest that I propose for you to explore this week was inspired by Darlene Cohen who is a well-known author and an expert in helping individuals cope with chronic illness. Darlene suggested in an interview that I did with her several years ago that one of the ways she was successfully able to cope with her chronic illness was to take in the full senses wherever she happened to be. She would look at and take in every detail that she could find in whatever place she happened to find herself. This, as it turned out, expanded her awareness. It helped her become more mindful of being present in the moment. Whatever pain in the physical body might have been present simply fades away into the sunset.

The Vision Quest for this week is very simply designed and simple to do. It can potentially have profound implications on your ability to maintain centeredness and balance and on your ability moment-to-moment to maintain a stress-free body.

The Vision Quest Challenge

Whenever you sit down – and it does not matter where you sit – the challenge for the week is to look around from wherever you are sitting and find something that you have not noticed before and look at it. Take in its full essence. That is it folks.

We get accustomed to our routines. We walk from our bedroom as we are getting up to the kitchen. Many of us prepare either a cup of hot tea or coffee and then we sit down at a table, at a chair or perhaps in front of our computer or television. We do not really look anywhere because out routine is so habitual. We do not take in the beauty and nuances of our environment. Our minds are somewhere else. Our body simply runs through a rat maze day after day, missing all the beauty that surrounds us.

The challenge of the week is to expand your awareness through sight. Every time you sit down, trigger an awareness that says,

“Wait. I just found myself sitting down. I’m now going to look around where I am at and find something that perhaps I really haven’t noticed before. Or, if I’ve noticed everything that I see here where I am sitting, let me really intensely look at something that I haven’t taken the opportunity to appreciate.”

Expanding awareness through greater vision is one of the powerful techniques for becoming more mindful, more centered, more aware in the moment and more grounded.

Every time you sit down, immediately look to see something you haven’t noticed before. You may spend only five or ten seconds looking. You may spend several minutes or perhaps even longer taking in the texture, the color and the essence of what you are looking at.

Break out of the hamster wheel routine of how you normally sense the world that surrounds you. When you sit, set into motion a new way of presenting yourself to the world. Allow its essence to penetrate every cell of your body. Look at familiar objects and sights with fresh eyes.

Enjoy your vision quest this week. Each time you sit, find something new to notice. Stay focused on the purpose here: When stress is eliminated, symptoms wither away.

Robert

Deeper Meaning Behind Being Mindful of the Present Moment

I have learned an important lesson over the last several years. Denial runs deep in our veins. For some reason we are clearly able to see issues that other people hold but are unable to acknowledge those same issues in ourselves. We insist on perceiving the world through our own distorted lens. It does not matter a hill of beans what the reality of the situation is.

There is no question about it. Denial runs deep in everyone’s veins. We deny – and I’m holding my hand up here – that life is very fragile indeed. I think to myself,

“I’ve got many years to live. I’m in a strong body. I’m healthy. I’m good to go for years and years.”

The truth of the matter is that this is a form of denial. There are bacterial infections out there that I may be exposed to and unable to release. There are delicate balances of potassium and magnesium in my body that must be maintained for life to be sustained. These could spin out of balance anytime.

There are certain systems in our body that maintain the sleep cycle. It could be that when driving I will slip off to sleep and veer off the road. Who knows what might happen to anyone in the future?

I’m not intending to be pessimistic or dire in any sense of the word. What I’m really doing with this mindfulness challenge, for myself and for you is to respect the magical mystery of each and every moment. When we do just that, each moment is enriched immeasurably.

We can all continue to have conversations with others when we are only partially present. When we choose to switch the habit of listening partially and haphazardly to being fully and completely present, we become fully engaged with the present moment. We connect to the other person with our heart and soul.

When we part, we know that we have made a profound encounter and connection. The experience of being present in the moment taps into the juice of our life force. It feeds our energy and enthusiasm for life

The Japanese honor a very special tradition. When a person leaves, whether through walking or through a car or through a train or plane, the person waving them goodbye waits until the car or the plane or the person has disappeared. Why? This may be the last time they will ever see that individual. It is a divine ritual for all of us to adopt whether we are Japanese or not!

The chant quoted below is taken from a Zen monastery of Jan Bays, who is a medical doctor and author of Mindful Eating as well as How to Train a Wild Elephant. I invite you to say it every day this week.

“May I respectfully remind you life and death are of supreme importance.

Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost.

When this day is past, our days of life will be decreased by one.

Each of you should strive to awaken.

Awaken! Take heed. Do not squander our life.”

Robert

How to be Mindful of the Present Moment

I have a challenge for you this week that I have been practicing now for some time. My own experience has been profound. Each and every encounter that you have with another individual, whether it is –

Over the phone
Through an email exchange
During a chat on the internet
In person

Think to yourself –

“There is a possibly this person may not be alive tomorrow.”

Let me be perfectly clear here. You are certainly not wishing that the person will die. Rather, you are honoring the reality that life is very fragile and very temporary. I have never met a person who is 140 years old.

You and I well know that we have friends and acquaintances who were alive and perfectly healthy one day. The following day they died from an entirely unexpected turn of events; automobile accidents, traumas, unexpected illnesses. It happens.

It happens to those who are one-day-old. It happens to those who are 100-years-old. Death comes to all living entities; animals, humans, everyone. We do not know when death will be knocking at our own door, but we can be assured it will pay us a visit eventually.

Recognizing this possibility enriches each and every encounter we have with another person. How many of you have experienced the following thought sequence? A family member or a treasured friend dies unexpectedly. You are very saddened. You are grieving. Some of your thoughts take the following form.

“The last time I saw my friend was three weeks ago. There were so many things I wish I had told them. I didn’t really have time for them then because I was rushing off to another appointment. They wanted to hang out but I didn’t have the time the last time I saw them alive. Oh how I wish I had had an opportunity once again to have that encounter. I would do it differently.”

I have had thoughts just like that in my life. Thoughts of regret and guilt will not surface when we are present and mindful of the present moment. The realization that it is possible (though of course not probable) that our friends and family may not be alive tomorrow is the thought that provides a powerful inventive to live in the present rather than being preoccupied with popping off to the next appointment.

The acknowledgment that every living being dies enriches the practice of mindful attention to each and every moment, to each and every encounter. It enriches the loveliness of being alive in a body.

To summarize, with each and every encounter – whether it comes through email correspondence, a telephone conversation or face-to-face encounters – think to yourself –

“This person may not be alive tomorrow. We can never really know what the future has in store for anyone.”

Then, initiate the interaction. Notice how you feel about the exchange which ensues. Speaking for myself, all of my encounters became richer and more meaningful.

Why is that? I am not anticipating the future. Rather. I am living in the present moment, mindful that whatever thoughts I have and whatever feelings I may experience need to be expressed now. There may be no tomorrow to say what I had thought about saying yesterday but did not have enough time.

Robert