MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness is an awareness of whatever is happening in the present moment – now!

Osho – one of the wise men of ancient times said “man has to learn only one thing – that it takes only a single step and the journey is over – that step is to do everything watchfully! A man or women who can do everything fully conscious, becomes a luminous phenomenon”.

 I have had a number of experiences over the last couple of weeks which would serve as excellent examples of how not to provide a service.

What is it with service providers in Nelspruit? Do they not understand what it takes to respond to requests and or suggestions by customers?

I am beginning to understand why this is called the “slow-veld”.

This does not mean that one has to accept it as the standard. Just state your case and take your business elsewhere!

 But be that as it may, in business a slow reaction or lackluster approach to customer’s service, will at some point cost you money or even your business and when it happens – please do not point fingers at anybody else – you are responsible!

 If one, in my mind, does things with a watchful awareness, you will always do everything in a state of single-mindedness and therefore there will never be reason to question your intention – there will never be a reason to query service levels and yes, I do accept that we all falter from time to time – we should accept this as part of our humanness and also forgive all those and ourselves when we falter!

 Once this falter becomes a habit though, claiming humanness does not cut it anymore. Another thing that perhaps leads to falter, is that we want to, randomly, do many things at the same time and this almost always leads to us not doing anything properly.

This can be managed though through structured delegation. And, delegation that also entails that the other, accept the responsibility that accompanies the delegation.

 I will leave you with this thought! The present moment, whatever it offers is always perfect – it can never be anything else! Creation is perfect – it can never be anything else! Food for thought – for every one of us!

Enjoy and be good!

Live the moment / live in this moment

Much have been said and written about being in the/this moment. The importance of this can never be stressed enough. Our busy lifestyle is constantly engaging our minds with past, current and future thoughts and thinking - to the point that we become completely exhausted.

The Universe only recognizes this moment – now. Past and future thinking prevent us from experiencing those many, and often small miracles that happen in our space all the time. It is important than one visualizes your goals and aspirations but consistent dwelling on it, or worrying about anything, to the detriment of living this/now moment, is not good.

The question then remains – what should one do to stay in the moment? First of all is to acknowledge and accept whatever happens in this moment wherever you find yourself. And then to become aware of your breathing – nothing brings you back into the moment – and for that matter, into the presence of God the Great Spirit, than being aware of your breathing.

And to this end, I would like to share two breathing techniques with you. Try it and feel free to share your experiences.  

The Ultimate Meditation  

(This is also a wonderful technique to use during the day – even if only for 5 minutes). 

We often hear the expression that to meditate one has to “empty” the mind. The better understanding is that of a “still” mind. When we “instruct” the mind to focus on more than one thing at a time, it becomes still.

For this meditation you can either sit or lie down but always keep the spine straight.

Become aware of your breathing. Be aware of the coolness of the inhaling through the nose. Pay attention to your chest and belly movements and the sound of the inhale. Relax into the breathing and the rhythm. Do this for a short period.

Now expand your awareness to include an awareness of the warmness of the out breath whilst still being aware of your sound and the chest and belly movements. Stay with this for a short period.

Now it is time to also become aware of your heartbeat, feel it, hear it but still keep the awareness of the inhale and exhale … the sound, the coolness and the warmness … feel the chest and the belly … feel the heart! Stay within this awareness for a period.

Become aware of the prana (life force energy) which is drawn into the body with every breath? Do not allow the mind to define the experience, because it will limit the experience and thus ruin it!

Now extend your awareness into to include your hands and then your face, nose and take this process through the whole body.

Practice this meditation for 20 minutes in the morning and evening. Enjoy!


Twenty Connected Breaths (Conscious Energy Breathing)

This exercise only takes 30 seconds depending of the “speed” that you employ and is wonderful to energise the body and the mind.

Let’s do it!

• Four short breaths
• At the end of each four – one deep breath
• Inhale/exhale through the nose
• Four short – one long – repeat 4 x non-stop
• Breaths should be connected – don’t stop in between or take a “breather”
• The idea is to create a constant circle of breath
• Begin with this cycle  4 counts in – 4 counts out 4x
• Deep breathe - 8 counts in – 8 counts out 1x
• Repeat the cycle 4x

You can lengthen the in and out time if you so wish, but start with moderation! This really is a powerful technique!

You may experience dizziness, tingling sensations in the hands or stomach or elsewhere in the body. The sensations might differ from practice to practice. This simply means that you are learning and benefiting from the breathing. You might want to do this particular exercise only once per day initially until the body has become used to the extra oxygen. Practice this exercise consistently for one year and you will be surprised by your newfound breathing awareness.