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Gratitude is a Super Power!

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I am grateful to be looking at gratitude yet again this blog!
Gratitude is an awesome superpower. I read recently that one of the most powerful statements you can make, feel or think is ‘thank you’. Thank you to others and yourself too.
 
It is so helpful to remember to be thankful to all those people in our lives who have been motherly, kind and caring toward us, including of course our own maternal mothers, to whom we owe so much, including our lives. Remembering to be thankful to friends, family and strangers too for the kindness they show us in all sorts of ways is powerful to promote our happiness and peace of mind. We'll talk more about gratitude for mothering kindness next blog, as it will be Mother's Day weekend. I'll be on board travelling from Canberra to Sydney!
 
It is also great to be thankful to others who give us the opportunity to be kind to them. This includes, friends, family, pets, strangers and of course our children or anyone we care for.

It's great to remember to tune into our wise selves to be kind and thankful to ourselves too. Seeing ourselves be a positive force in the world, being kind and grateful creates a happy perception. We can reinforce this goodness by being thankful to ourselves. We can be grateful to ourselves for doing our best to be a kind, positive force in the world. Remembering also to forgive ourselves and others for all those so called ‘mistakes’, more helpfully known as learning opportunities. 
 
The opportunities to extend kindness do not always come in the ways we expect and sometimes these kind acts are received without thanks. I find it helpful to thank myself, especially during those times like when I have spent a lot of time and effort doing something like making a family meal which is received with 'I don't like this!' Resting in my intention to have prepared a healthy meal and thanking myself helps to prevent resentment. A space I  have known very well. 

Sometimes extending kindness, especially as parents, can be in the form of a strong boundary like ‘please, don’t speak to me like that’, or ‘no, you can’t do that’. Such Kindness always has the intention to protect others from harm.

I can remember the need for such a strong kind boundary many years ago when I needed to enforce the ‘no sleeping with phone rule’ with my then thirteen-year-old. As I was saying goodnight to them, I discovered the phone under their bedclothes. I removed the phone and there was much subsequent protesting.  I needed to check in with my wise self to remember that my intention was to prevent harm and for them to get a good night’s sleep. I was then able to thank myself for being courageously kind, as the protests continued.  
 
More about gratitude and its awesome benefits next blog.
With love, appreciation and very best well wishes to us all 


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Why its Good to Train our Minds to be in the Present!

2/27/2022

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Eckhart Tolle says ‘realize deeply the present moment is all you have. This reminds me to be present where and when I am in the present moment and to not get caught up in being some place else or some time else! In the words of Jim Elliot; ‘Wherever you are – be all there.
 
There are several benefits to training our minds to be in the present ….
When we are in the present moment................ 
  • We are not being distracted or disturbed by past regrets or future worries. 
  • We feel a sense of calm and are less likely to be carried away by unhelpful thoughts and emotions.
  • We are more able to connect with our surroundings and others
  • Our ability to concentrate, be patient and deal with negative emotions is facilitated
But, how do we do that? I am not sure about you but my mind is often dwelling in the past or the future, usually with worry about what has already happened or what may or may not happen in the future.

Both the past and the future only exist in the present mind. The past has already been and the future has not yet come! However we bring them into the present mind, usually with worry. There is never any use worrying about what has already been and what may or may not happen in the future, but how do we stop ruining our present with such worry?

A useful way to train our minds to be more in the present, which I learned from my Teachers Lama Marut and Cindy Lee is this ‘Be Here Now’ practice.

This practice is one way we can train our minds to be more in the present and less caught up with worry about the past and future, times that don’t exist. We can do  this simple tuning into our surroundings anytime we remember as well as a preliminary before doing meditation.

I have been using this 'Be Here Now' practice to settle into the present before doing our meditation in yoga for many years. Lama Marut refers to this practice as 'setting our internal GPS'. It orientates us in the present, place and time. 
  1. Be Here Now. 
If we are doing this as a meditation preliminary we begin by firstly checking in with our meditation posture by being relaxed, seated comfortably with a straight back, arms resting in the lap, head evenly balanced with relaxed jaw, face and scalp, and our eyes gently closed.  Otherwise its just a matter of being aware of where and when we are by using these steps to tune in. 

The ‘be here now’ practice consists of the following steps.
  1. We bring our attention to where we are, our surroundings. We leave behind where we have come from and where we are off to next and become aware of where we are now, our surroundings such as the room we are in and those we are with. We notice what is around us, where we are!
  2. We then become aware of when we are, in the ever-changing present moment. We do our best to tune into the changing nature of when or now by uses our senses.
i.Firstly, attending to any sounds we can hear. This is a tuning in process which involves noticing the many changing sounds that are around us and moving from sound to sound without the need to think about what we are hearing. 
ii.Secondly, we notice the sensations we can feel. These include any areas of pressure or warmth we can feel on the skin, a breeze, whatever we can feel. Again no need to think we are simply tuning in
iii.Thirdly, we bring our attention to any smells that are lingering around.

BINGO we are in the present, and everything is OK there, no fear or worry.  
In our yoga classes we do this meditation preliminary practice, then go onto bring our attention to the breath, our anchor in the present with a simple mindful breathing meditation. I will outline the steps of this mediation next blog. 

With love, appreciation and very best well wishes to us all 
Maree xx
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