Category: Mindfulness Challenge for the Week

Most people live very busy, active lives. We turn from one task, one self-assignment to the next without any pause whatsoever.  Our thoughts circle around from one to another also without any pause whatsoever.  We operate on a continuous fast forward speed without any stopping whatsoever, until our heads hit the pillow at the end of the evening.

My mindfulness challenge this week offers you an opportunity to slow the quick pace of your life down.  Remember, this quick pace is a primary factor that induces stress in your life. You well know by now at this stage of the Parkinsons Recovery Mindfulness Program that stress is a sure bet to make symptoms much, much worse.

How then do you slow the quick pace of your life down with the mindfulness challenge this week?  It is actually easy to do.  The challenge is this. Each time the telephone rings –whether it is a land line or a cell phone – instead of immediately rushing to pick up the receiver and say,

“Hello.  Robert here, how can I help you?” 

Pause.  Take three slow mindful breaths after the phone rings the first time.  The phone of course will be ringing three, four, five, maybe even six times as you pause from what you were doing to what you are about to engage.  Once your three breaths are completed, pause, center yourself, pick up the receiver and then say,

“Hello.  Robert here.  How may I help you, today?” 

Of course please substitute your name for mine when you answer.  We do not want to proliferate the world with more Roberts.

There is a huge difference in how we answer the phone when we are rushed. When we are rushing we hurriedly say,

“Hello-Robert here, how-can-I-help-you!” 

When we are mindful to each and every moment, when we are living in the present, we say slowly, mindfully and lovingly.

 “Hello?  This is Robert.  How, may I help you, today?” 

The difference is huge. It kicks off a conversation from a much better place. The person on the other end of the line does not also feel rushed. Becoming mindful when we answer the phone also nurtures our own sanity. It helps to maintain that critical balance in our body that enables our neurological system to flourish and function precisely the way that intricate system was designed to function in the first place.

Have fun each time the telephone rings.  Remember, change the pattern of how you always respond.  Do that when the phone rings by:

1. Taking three, long, slow, mindful breaths. 
2. Pausing at the end of those three breaths.
3. Centering yourself as you prepare for a new experience.

Be excited about what the person on the other end of a line will want to discuss with you.  Have a delightful time as you reduce stress in your life using this very simple but powerful mindfulness exercise.  When we slow ourselves down, we begin to treasure  each moment rather than rushing off to the next one.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

After many years of focusing my attention exclusively on the factors that contribute to the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, I have two truths to offer.

The first truth is – Change is necessary to heal. There is an imbalance in your body that is creating the neurological symptoms associated with the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. This means that if you want to reverse those symptoms, you will have to make some changes in your behavior. I fully recognize this is a broad statement which implies a variety of possibilities:

Change may mean changes in how you are making decisions about what to do each day.

• Change may mean making changes about how you live your life. 
• Change may mean how you move your body. 
• Change may mean what you put in your body. 

Whatever the nature of the change that is required, something has to shift if you expect that neurological symptoms will resolve and reverse.

The second truth is – Stress has a direct connection to the symptoms.  When people are stressed the symptoms flare.  When people are joyously pursuing their life’s passion, symptoms are hardly even noticeable.

Have you ever heard the statement:

“Fasting is good for you?”

The challenge this week may be difficult for some of you, but I am going to suggest a fast.  Not a food fast (although research does show that a food fast reduces symptoms), not a people fast, but a news media fast.

Are you a news junkie?  If so, this particular challenge may be particularly onerous and difficult for you. Permit me to suggest it anyway. Your life may be transformed if you accept this challenge.

What does this fast entail for you to become more mindful moment to moment during the week?

1. No watching TV of any type. 
2. No reading newspapers from any source. 
3. No listening to the radio.

If you count up the hours that you spend in devoting attention to those three media sources, you may be surprised at how much of your life you are spending being exposed to mass media. I have personally realized that much of which is advertised to be news is actually just propaganda of one type or another. So why bother?

Once you turn off the TV, once you stop reading the newspaper, once you turn off your radio or never turn the radio on when you’re in your car; what are the alternatives. What do you do instead?  There are many.  Let me suggest a few.

• Play a musical instrument
• Learn how to play a musical instrument you have always wanted to learn. 
• Listen to music.
• Cook.
• Chill out and relax.
• Meditate.
• Walk.
• Exercise.
• Paint.
• Write.
• Dream
• Talk with friends and family over the phone. 
• Invite neighbors over to sit on your porch or your back deck and hang out.
  

Of course the list of alternatives is endless.  Gardening may be one of your favorites.  Whatever the choice might be, the key is, turn off mass media for this week.  Monitor how you are feeling and be aware of your stress level.  You will read more about the implications of this particular challenge in a few days.  May you have fun with the challenge of this news media fast this week.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

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