Mindfulness & Meditation & Law of Attraction

[Fikre]

Hi, I'm very interested in these subjects and I have studied them pretty much.
I still need a helping hand to know more about them and how to combine them.


1. How am I mindful? Do I think "Wow, nice tree. Wow, nice red car. Wow, nice booty on that chick."? Or am I just not thinking anything?
2. How do I schedule anything or prepare for anything if I'm always living in the moment?
3. I work in a kindergarten. I wish to be more mindful but it's kinda hard with 30 kids jumping around and you're required to watch over them, listen to the other teachers, talk to the parents who are bringing/getting their kids, make preparations for the activity and so on. Any tips on being mindful in very hard situations?
4. Law of Attraction wants you to basically be as if you already had the thing you were hoping for. So if you want to be happy you should believe you are happy and be like you're happy, and you will be happy. But if I'm mindful of the moment then I obviously don't see the things I try to get with the Law of Attraction since they don't actually exist yet.
5. Can visualization be part of meditation? I see videos of guided meditation that are full of visualization and stuff like this but isn't meditation about just being with empty mind? How can you visualize with empty and quiet mind?

[kkfern]

i love the way you think

kk

[Fikre]

i love the way you think

kk

Thanks :D

[Ivy]

Oh my poor head and heart lol.

The very fact that the instruction leaflets all contradict each other should tell you something - like every instruction is just a possibility of something that might work for you, and that the instructioner really needs folk to say that their way is right and pay them a buck for suggesting it.

Try things out as if they were part of a tool box... You know, someone needing a screwdriver could tell you that it is the most magical, life changing thing in the world. But if what you need is a saw, then a screwdriver is pretty useless. That's not to say that the screwdriver should be thrown out as a useless tool - but just put it in the tool kit until it is needed.

The world of spirituality is just full of folk telling you that the screwdriver is the 'way' or that the saw is the only thing you'll ever need, or that the drill will be the life changing moment of enlightenment. But the craftsmans skill and wisdom comes from being able to look at the situation and choose the correct tool for that job.

[jonesboy]

Hi, I'm very interested in these subjects and I have studied them pretty much.
I still need a helping hand to know more about them and how to combine them.


1. How am I mindful? Do I think "Wow, nice tree. Wow, nice red car. Wow, nice booty on that chick."? Or am I just not thinking anything?
2. How do I schedule anything or prepare for anything if I'm always living in the moment?
3. I work in a kindergarten. I wish to be more mindful but it's kinda hard with 30 kids jumping around and you're required to watch over them, listen to the other teachers, talk to the parents who are bringing/getting their kids, make preparations for the activity and so on. Any tips on being mindful in very hard situations?
4. Law of Attraction wants you to basically be as if you already had the thing you were hoping for. So if you want to be happy you should believe you are happy and be like you're happy, and you will be happy. But if I'm mindful of the moment then I obviously don't see the things I try to get with the Law of Attraction since they don't actually exist yet.
5. Can visualization be part of meditation? I see videos of guided meditation that are full of visualization and stuff like this but isn't meditation about just being with empty mind? How can you visualize with empty and quiet mind?

Alright :) I am going to take a stab at this one, looks fun so here we go.

1. How am I mindful? Do I think "Wow, nice tree. Wow, nice red car. Wow, nice booty on that chick."? Or am I just not thinking anything?

For now, just notice what thoughts you are having. Do you have the same thoughts at the same time of day, every day? Do you day dream the same things a lot?

Just that stepping back and noticing that you are not your thoughts. They come and go but are not you. They can't hurt you.

So just observe them for now.

2. How do I schedule anything or prepare for anything if I'm always living in the moment?

Being in the moment is about where your awareness is at that moment. If you are daydreaming about the future or past you are not in the present. An example would be, if you are a teacher and you have to write your lesson plan for the upcoming week. You sit and you right it in that moment, not getting lost in daydreams while writing it.

Simple no? :wink:

3. I work in a kindergarten. I wish to be more mindful but it's kinda hard with 30 kids jumping around and you're required to watch over them, listen to the other teachers, talk to the parents who are bringing/getting their kids, make preparations for the activity and so on. Any tips on being mindful in very hard situations?

If you are doing mindful meditation at least 20 mins twice a day you will have periods of calm abiding all on your own. Until that happens how can we be mindful and present with so much going on?

A very powerful way of staying present is to put your awareness in your body. A parent enters the room who you have to talk to. Before you start talking feel how your body feels. All emotions have a physical sensation to them. Do you tense up or change your posture? Once you feel it relax your body but keep your awareness there as you talk to people. Just notice how your body feels and always try to let the emotions/physical sensations just flow through your body in a relaxed manner.

Once you have noticed your reaction really look at that person. Don't get lost in daydreams. You know how when someone will talk and we start to daydream our own shared experience of something similar and miss most of what they were saying? Try instead to notice how are they feeling. Are they scared, nervous, happy even?

That is called Insight Dialogue and you can find out more about it HERE (http://metta.org/). Very good stuff.

Another method that I have used that works along the same lines is called NAVIGATING OUR EXPERIENCES (http://www.thepresenceportal.com/Articles%20-%20Navigating%20Our%20Experiences.htm)by Michael Brown. Very powerful and I encourage you to read and apply it.

4. Law of Attraction wants you to basically be as if you already had the thing you were hoping for. So if you want to be happy you should believe you are happy and be like you're happy, and you will be happy. But if I'm mindful of the moment then I obviously don't see the things I try to get with the Law of Attraction since they don't actually exist yet.

It is saying realize you don't need a THING to be happy. Your thoughts dictate the quality of your experience. Realize your natural state. One of happiness. It is your thoughts and attachment to things that you think you need to be happy that keep us from being happy now. I really like the book Loving What Is by Byron Katie much more than the Secret. Really gives a solid technique to cut past the mind stories.

5. Can visualization be part of meditation? I see videos of guided meditation that are full of visualization and stuff like this but isn't meditation about just being with empty mind? How can you visualize with empty and quiet mind?

Excellent question. for the most part you are exactly right. I know of a love and compassion meditation that has you see a pure white light in your heart. That is at the very end of the meditation though.

So yes if you are visualizing chakras or whatever then you are not really meditating. Pranayama and other practices outside of meditation most certainly do. People often get sidetrack by all of the other visual cool stuff. That is all it is though. It won't change your life and those around you for the better. You won't become enlightened by being able to do OBE's. There is nothing wrong with having fun, just know that is all it is. Fun, not the path itself.

Hope this helps.

[Dwerg]

1. I read a bit deeper into the meaning of mindfulness, and tracing it back it turns out it means "to remember". This is something I find hard to believe we all don't know the meaning of, no mental chatter is nescessary to do it and if anything just obscures memories. Why? Because they are then interpreted rather than seen as they are, several interpretations may fit any given situation.

2. This one takes a bit of twisting, being in the moment doesn't exclude planning for the future. You're planning for the future in the moment, however it's wiser to be in the moment if thoughts of the future fills you with anxiety. If you haven't learned to dual channel attention yet (pay attention to 2 things simultaneously), then maybe a better solution is to pre-plan what time you use to plan and what time you spend living in the moment. Where to do what and when. Avoid planning too much how, details are best figured out in a given circumstance.

3. This one's a bit more tricky. I also have a high pressure job, and I can only flow if I put myself in loop. I observe the current situation (in the moment), organize by priority, decide what actions to take and then execute actions. When I've done that I simply repeat it, that takes into account changing circumstances. Notice when you drift and learn to re-take focus. I good thing to do to boost yourself at work is to reflect on what went good and what failed, do this when you're done every day.

4. There's obvious flaws in the law of attraction, but there's a point to it. If you're in touch with how reality works you may have figured you don't always get what you want and certainly not when you want it, however you're doomed to not get it if you don't think you can. At a very basic level you got to think you can have what you want to have any sort of motivation. The question is what you have to do to get it. Realistically speaking nothing comes for free, and realizing what you have to do may generate anxiety as the challenge grows. If you feel as though you already have it you will be more strongly motivated to go and actually get it, in other words happiness is a motivated state. Rather than feeling down about not having it you feel energized to go get it, appreciate the journey and not just the destination. Be in the moment with the future good in mind.

5. Yes. This has to do with learning actually. If your mind is full of the same old thoughts and junk just going on repeat you're essentially stuck. Visualization is a very flexible way to manage life and to learn new things, every high achiever on the planet knows this. Clearing your mind makes place for new things go in. Keeping it constantly clear won't work, to learn you visualize what you're learning about. For instance I visualize the roads I know to a given destination to know where to take the turns as I'm driving my car. Before I could be that effective I had to build a mental map of my local road network. I couldn't have done that if I was paying attention to thoughts instead of the road.

Much of these skills require attention control, which to my knowledge and experience is what is practiced during meditation. Like paying attention to a single thing like breathing can cause you to become aware of everything that is not it, and subsequently make you realize everything in your mind is not real as it's simply in your mind. Especially helpful to make sure what's on your mind accurately reflects what's outside it. Like the breathing itself is the reality and not the thought of breathing.

[BigBadBeef]

Hi, I'm very interested in these subjects and I have studied them pretty much.
I still need a helping hand to know more about them and how to combine them.


1. How am I mindful? Do I think "Wow, nice tree. Wow, nice red car. Wow, nice booty on that chick."? Or am I just not thinking anything?
2. How do I schedule anything or prepare for anything if I'm always living in the moment?
3. I work in a kindergarten. I wish to be more mindful but it's kinda hard with 30 kids jumping around and you're required to watch over them, listen to the other teachers, talk to the parents who are bringing/getting their kids, make preparations for the activity and so on. Any tips on being mindful in very hard situations?
4. Law of Attraction wants you to basically be as if you already had the thing you were hoping for. So if you want to be happy you should believe you are happy and be like you're happy, and you will be happy. But if I'm mindful of the moment then I obviously don't see the things I try to get with the Law of Attraction since they don't actually exist yet.
5. Can visualization be part of meditation? I see videos of guided meditation that are full of visualization and stuff like this but isn't meditation about just being with empty mind? How can you visualize with empty and quiet mind?

Its actually very easy.

What are you thinking this very moment? What is going on inside that thick skull of yours? What do you feel? What are you doing? What dark thoughts do you harbour? What dark deeds are you plotting? :D

hehe... don't answer to me, but just drop everything you're doing and answer the aforementioned questions by yourself. Well don't just loiter in front of the screen, sitting pretty, DO IT! :)

You'll quickly come to experience something analogous to mice rattling around in the attic, as soon as you go to investigate the noise, everything suddenly seems to duck down & go silent... until you divert your attention away from yourself.

Congratulations, you experienced a moment of mindfulness.

[vitaraq18]

Thanks for sharing

[Mr Interesting]

1. How am I mindful? Do I think "Wow, nice tree. Wow, nice red car. Wow, nice booty on that chick."? Or am I just not thinking anything?

Isn't mindful just about realising you are thinking and being aware of the difference between thinking and the awareness that sits around it?


2. How do I schedule anything or prepare for anything if I'm always living in the moment?
Do that which requires thinking and making decisions then go back to being in the moment. If you decide to take a bus then decide to take a bus. Once the decision is made there is no need to think anymore about it.

3. I work in a kindergarten. I wish to be more mindful but it's kinda hard with 30 kids jumping around and you're required to watch over them, listen to the other teachers, talk to the parents who are bringing/getting their kids, make preparations for the activity and so on. Any tips on being mindful in very hard situations?
Seemingly difficult but essentially the easiest to be in because things are always there to experience and feel... and flow with.

4. Law of Attraction wants you to basically be as if you already had the thing you were hoping for. So if you want to be happy you should believe you are happy and be like you're happy, and you will be happy. But if I'm mindful of the moment then I obviously don't see the things I try to get with the Law of Attraction since they don't actually exist yet.
Don't they? The law of attraction is quite the clever thing as it teaches us the use of potential while giving us things to play with.

5. Can visualization be part of meditation? I see videos of guided meditation that are full of visualization and stuff like this but isn't meditation about just being with empty mind? How can you visualize with empty and quiet mind?
Meditation is what ever you want it to be. Like any tool available you make it work for you and not the other way around.