Category: Mindfulness Challenge for the Week

Over three decades ago, Nancy Reagan, the wife of President Ronald Reagan, launched and supported a program to help children get off of using drugs.  The program was known as “Just Say No.”  My mindfulness invitation for you this week is just the reverse of Nancy Reagan’s program.  My invitation is to

“Just Say Yes”

to everything that happens and anything that is suggested to you.

I realize this may sound quite outrageous since there are some suggestions that are made that are obviously not in your best interest or in the best interest of the person making the suggestion. If the suggestion might incur a risk to life or safety, then  suggest a diversion.  If, for example you are working with a child or a grandchild and they want to do something that obviously might create some risk to them personally, how about simply seeing if you can divert their attention rather than immediately saying “No, you will get hurt if you do just that.”

Some situations it may be very difficult to just say yes.  In those situations I invite you to consider the possibility of smiling and simply being pleasant.  When a person is suggesting an idea that you find to be particularly aversive to you, again, smile, be pleasant. Do not however engage or initiate any disagreement.

The opportunity this week then is to assess what is going on within you when you say “Yes” as contrasted to situations where you are evaluating, you are judging and you are considering cost and benefits before you say yes.

Since saying no is habitual for many people (or offering no response) engaging the challenge of saying yes activates a mindful consideration of the responses to suggestions that you are mostly likely to offer.

Say yes immediately. Experience what happens to your energy.

Have fun saying yes this week.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

My challenge for you this week is to become aware and mindful of how you define the territory that is yours and yours alone. More specifically, how do you label and define who you are and how do you assert and declare ownership of very specific places on this earth.  Some examples will help and by way of introduction. The challenge of the week is not about being aware so you can stop labeling yourself or defining yourself. We all have labels.  It is becoming mindful and aware of what labels we attach to ourselves and what territories we associate ourselves with.

Do you tend to think of yourself as a:

• Conservative or Liberal?
• Democrat or Republican? 
• East coast or a West coast or Midwest or Southwest person or none of these?

When people ask, “what do you do” what is your answer? A

• Mother
• Housewife
• House husband
• Professor
• Politician
• Lawyer
• Artist
• Researcher
• Plumber
• Salesperson

What do you say when asked, “What do you do?”  Do you say

“I’m retired?” 

Do you say,

“I’m between jobs?”

What is the label that you most closely associate with? How do you respond when you are ask this question?  When people ask me this question I tend to slip myself into different categories depending on the situation. I think of myself as a researcher. I think of myself as a writer. I think of myself as a facilitator or mediator. There are many, many other labels that I identify with.

The second component of defining your territory and becoming mindful of how you stake out your territory is to become aware of those special places that you declare to be yours and yours alone.  Perhaps:

• A special chair that you and only you are allowed or invited to sit in. 
• A desk that is yours, not a shared desk. 
• A walking route that you take which is patently yours. 
• A table at a restaurant––when you walk in you are bound and determined to wait for a very specific table because that happens to be your personal table.
• A lane on the expressway that is your lane and not to be shared with anyone else. 
• A chair at your own dinner table or breakfast table.

What is your territory and how do you define it?

In some ways I am inviting you this week to become a two-year-old who is very assertive and vocal about their territory.  When certain toys are thought to be the two-year-old’s toys, they will very loudly and profusely declare, “Mine.”

The invitation this week then is become aware of the territory that you declare for yourself.  The deeper meaning of this exercise will be revealed in just four days from now.  May you have a delightful time becoming aware of how you define your territory.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery