Mindfulness Challenges

Implications Behind Making It Better

How is the challenge been going to make each situation you find yourself a little bit better?

Have you done it?
Have you enjoyed it?
Have you hated it?
Have you struggled with this particular challenge?

Some of you may have been anticipating that this is actually a bit of a prissy challenge. By prissy I basically mean that perhaps you were thinking I was going to say something to the effect of,

“Well everybody, if each person just did exactly what you have been doing these last few days, make each situation just a little bit better, wouldn’t the world at large be a whole lot more wonderful and beautiful place to live?”

That is true certainly but that as it turns out is not actually the underlying motivation for my suggesting that you make each and every situation just a little bit better.

There are actually two important and compelling reasons to invite you to continue with this challenge for the rest of the week. The first reason is really quite simple. You look around at a situation and often times we see incredible problems. There is:

Trash
Mess
Disarray
Chaos

We think to ourselves,

“Oh my heavens, this particular situation is absolutely chaotic. It is horrible. Who in the world could ever set this straight?”

I often have that thought when I drive down the highway and see the trash that has been thrown on the side. Isn’t that, I ask you, often the very same thought form that you carry around with you moment-to-moment, when you reflect on whatever symptoms you might be experiencing? Might I suggest to you there’s really little difference between them.

When lots of symptoms begin to flare it is normal to begin to think,

“This is overwhelming. There is absolutely no way any of this can be reversed. I am discouraged. I am depressed. It does not even matter what action I take. It will not make a hill of beans difference anyway!”

Does that set of thoughts sound familiar to you? The reality however is really just the reverse. Symptoms begin to reverse when we take those tiny, little steps; when we take those actions that are quite inconsequential and quite minor on their face. If we simply get stuck and become couch potatoes, symptoms will continue to be overwhelming.

Individuals who find they are succeeding in reversing their symptoms are taking tiny, little actions each and every day. It might only take a minute or two or five minutes, but it will indeed likely make a huge a difference in how you actually feel throughout the rest of the day if not the rest of the week. Small actions create small wins. Yes, it is insurmountable to think of what you need to do today to reverse any and all symptoms you might be experiencing. I agree that as framed that is a challenge that is overwhelming.

That’s not the point! The point is to feel a little bit better today. You do that by taking a small action.

There is a second underlying reason for this particular challenge that may come as a bit of a surprise to you. You’ve been monitoring your reactions and thoughts when you have been cleaning up for others because of course this exercise entails cleaning up the mess, not only your own mess but the messes of other individuals–family members, loved ones and strangers. I can tell you what some of my reactions have been over the course of my life.

I walk into the kitchen, I see a horrible mess. The kids have been there last night. Okay, okay what’s my choice? Do I tell them,

“Get in here and clean it up!”?

Or do I say,

“Forget it. I’m just going to do it myself”?

What do I feel? Resentment. Then as I begin to clean up the dishes I begin to think to myself,

“When is this going to be over? When are these kids going to grow up? My goodness, I don’t know how much longer I can live with this!”

Feelings of anger and resentment begin to surge inside my body.

Your reactions may be very different. Of course there is a huge range of reactions that all of us will have depending on what the circumstance actually is; especially when we’re dealing with strangers. We see something that has been thrown on the side of the road and all of a sudden surging up inside our physical body can be the feeling of rage. Why in the world are people out there willing to do such horrible things like eat a sandwich and put the residue on the side of the road? Yuk.

As we monitor all of those feelings, I suggest that these too are all of the same thoughts and feelings that are accompanied with anyone who currently experiences neurological symptoms associated with the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Aren’t I right? Isn’t there resentment?

“Why in the world did I have to get this? My God, I don’t know of anybody else that has it?”

Isn’t there anger towards your body?

“You’re not working! Give me a break would you get on board please?”

I suggest that all of those feelings that emerge when you do this harmless little task of making every situation a little bit better, actually surfaces all of the same emotions and feelings that are associated with how you feel about symptoms that you are currently experiencing. Are those feelings and thoughts in your best and highest good? Answer is no.

They are not helping you.

They are not helping your body.

They are not helping your mind.

They are not helping your soul.
They are dragging you down deep into the gutter.

The idea of course is to recognize those feelings and thoughts when they emerge. We all have them. we can’t stop them. But then say,

“Oh right, of course I’m resentful!” Well let’s now put that aside. Let’s put that up in the cupboard because I’m not going to deal with that right now.

One of the strategies that I use often when I identify a feeling that I know is not in my best and highest good is to say,

“Okay, I’m human, I have a right to feel that resentment, what I’m going to do is put it up in the cupboard and I’ll shut the door of the cupboard. I can take that back out tomorrow or next week if I really want to and need to.”

The magic of that strategy of course is that I never remember to open up the cupboard and take out the feeling or thought for additional examination. OK. I realize this is a pretty silly approach, but it works for me! I stop having the resentment seethe throughout all the cells in my body and transform to feelings and thought forms that are in my best and highest good.

Continue with this particular challenge for the rest of the week. You may by way of habit do this anyway, or you may decide by way of habit to continue doing it after the week expires. Notice this week each and every feeling and thought that emerges when you take each action to “Make it Better”.

1. Recognize it is a familiar thought or feeling.

2. Recognize it is tied to sustaining the symptoms that you currently experience.

3. Put it in the cupboard.

4. Shut the door.

5. Activate feelings and thoughts that do and will promote a reversal of whatever symptoms you might currently be experiencing.

Enjoy yourself as you continue making the world a little bit better place and as you continue little-by-little taking small little actions everyday helping your body to heal. The body is a miracle. It knows exactly what needs to happen in order to come back into full balance and harmony.

Robert

Make It Better

My Mindfulness Challenge this week involves taking a number of small, tiny steps or actions accompanied with a reflection of your reactions, thoughts and feelings to taking those actions. What actions am I going to suggest that you take? It is really quite simple.

In every place that you find yourself look around and see what tiny small action you can take to make that place a little bit better. What do I mean exactly?

Perhaps you are in the kitchen and you notice that there is a bit of mess on the counter top. This may be your habit, but if not – simply wipe that little mess on the counter top up. It takes about 10 or 15 seconds at most; typically something that you would not do by manner of routine.
Perhaps you notice that in the bedroom there is a piece of paper on the carpet. Pick up the paper and dispose of it either in the trash or put it where it actually belongs.
Perhaps you are walking on the sidewalk outside taking your usual afternoon walk. You notice that there is a paper bag on the side of the road. Pick up the paper bag and when you find a place to dispose of it, dispose of it.

I could of course give endless examples but the idea is to leave each place that you find yourself in, just a little tiny bit better than it was when you first arrived.

“Make it Better” is the idea here. Anything goes: Anything that you can do to improve a situation counts. Enjoy this challenge but be sure to acknowledge every feeling and thought that you have when you do just what I am suggesting, whatever those thoughts and feelings might be. There will probably be a long list of reactions that you may have. Simply note them for they are rich information for you to work with as this particular challenge unfolds later in the week.

Enjoy yourself. I’ll be back in a few days.

Robert

Deeper Implications Behind Mindful Driving

What are the deeper implications between becoming mindful and attentive of driving a vehicle or riding in a vehicle? Driving a car or riding in one has a direct analogy to the journey of recovering from Parkinson’s disease. Permit me to explain. When driving, it is almost always the case that we have a very clear and precise destination in mind. Of course that is not always the case, but almost always if we are in the car either driving or riding we are going somewhere. On your journey of recovery from the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, my question to you is:

Where are you headed on your journey?

Is the end goal to see a release of the tension in your right thigh or an elimination of a tremor in your left arm? Do you set for yourself a goal that is actually one that has a negative connotation? In other words, what you really desire is for something that is currently annoying to all of a sudden end and dissolve?

Consider your possible experience with driving to two very different destinations. The first destination is a concert by a musical group that you truly love. You are going to be very motivated to get there. You are going to be energetic. You are going to be happy. You are going to be exhilarated because once you arrive you will be able to enter the concert hall and experience something that you truly and genuinely treasure.

Contrast that destination with a destination of driving to a billing enter which has just wrongly charged you $125 dollars on your internet bill. What is it like to experience driving to that destination? We all are different of course but if you are like me I’m thinking to myself,

“Do I really have to spend this time going to that office appearing in person to straighten this out? I’m really upset and angry about this. I don’t want to waste my day spending my time driving over there and solving something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

Does that sound familiar? Do you get a feeling for the contrast between those two destinations? It is really very similar to a destination and a goal that you might set for yourself when it comes to recovery. If the intention (and end state goal) is to eliminate a symptom, that is fine and good but it is certainly not anything that you can particularly look forward to. How about setting an end state goal that does serve and fulfill your true passion? Only you know what that might be of course and part of our life’s journey is to sort through and really understand and recognize and acknowledge our true passions.

Speaking personally, I have realized recently that one of my passions is writing short stories. I stopped and thought to myself,

“I need to start writing short stories because I love it!”

It has taken me quite a few years to actually make that statement and engage that behavior. What then is your fondest passion that you have put on the shelf for reasons that more than like do not make a lot of sense? Let me just give one example of a possible passion that perhaps one or even more of you might have.

Suppose your passion is to paint. You want to begin to paint again. You have some challenges, some difficulties with painting now given that some of the symptoms are making that more challenging. The end goal then is to paint. Once the goal is established, a goal that dos have energetic juice, consider the journey to be a lot like driving where you are attentive and present to each and every moment. The end goal is to paint. A recognition is made; you no longer have any paint brushes to use. The decision on this journey is to acquire some paint brushes. So you get in the car and mindfully drive to the art store. Perhaps this is all you can accomplish for this day or this week or even this month. It is a small segment of a very long journey because you know that the end result, the end goal is to return to what you truly love; which is painting.

Consider what end state goals you set for yourself. Once they are set ask yourself,

“Am I rushing like a mad person to achieve that goal just as I drive like a mad person to get to the destinations that I set for myself?”

Chances are there is little difference between the two.

Recognize and acknowledge your habits of driving will give you incredibly rich information about your own approach to recovering from whatever symptoms you might currently experience that are associated with the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Becoming mindful of this journey to achieve your end goal to accomplish your passion means you are attentive and mindful to each and every moment of that journey. Yes, the journey might last a month or two months or even three or four months before you are even in a position to begin to start painting. Each and every day, each and every hour, each and every second you were attentive and mindful to what you needed to do for yourself to be in a position where yes, you could finally manifest your passion.

In summary, ask yourself, what are you end goal states? What is it that you are driving to achieve and how are you actually preceding to get there in the vehicle that you have chosen? Your vehicle of course is your body.

Robert

Mindful Driving

The Mindfulness Challenge of this week focuses your attention on driving. If you currently do not drive a car or a vehicle but rather ride in cars, all of my suggestions will still apply to you although you are not actually driving yourself.

I have a confession to make at the outset. I have been practicing on this particular challenge now for several months. It has been a true challenge for me to convert my normal practice of scatterbrain driving to one of mindful driving. What I discovered for myself before I decided to issue this challenge to you is that when I drive typically, I consider it to be a secondary function. I don’t wish to “waste” any of my precious time so while I drive I am planning out my next activity of the day. I was surprised and shocked to discover that there would be blocks of time, sometimes five minutes sometimes ten minutes, when I was literally somewhere else. I was not attentive to where I was at the moment or even where I was going for that matter.

I converted this habit of driving to a habit of mindfulness, but only after I realized that I typically consider driving to be a secondary and unimportant function. The task is anything but that, especially if you want to avert accidents and other serious problems. When I say mindful driving what exactly does that entail?

Pay close attention to every aspect of the experience of getting into the vehicle, sitting down wherever you elect to sit and becoming totally and completely aware of how your body is positioned in the seat including where your legs are positioned. Does your body feel as though that’s the right placement for you in terms of the height of the seat are sitting in?

How does it feel when you take the key and insert it into the ignition, if in fact that’s the way your car works? Does the metal feel cold or slimy or wet?

How does it feel when you put your hands on your steering wheel? Is it sticky perhaps? Is it warm or is it too cold?

As you turn the car on, be mindful and pay attention to how that engine is running. Treat it as a child. How you feeling today, dear? Your engine will tell you what is really up in the moment. As you begin to engage that journey of the drive look, notice and be totally attentive to every moment of the drive.

Be aware of persons that may be riding bikes or walking on the side of the road. What do you do when you see such obstructions or do you consider them to be just that? What do you do when a driver comes up behind you wanting to travel 20 more miles an hour than you are driving? As you look in our rear-view mirror you happen to notice that they are two-inches from your bumper. What do you do when that happens? What is your reaction?

Become mindful of the present moment. Become aware of all the motions, all reactions and all thoughts that are connected to the driving experience in the moment. Do you typically drive right at the speed limit, below the speed limit or faster than the speed limit? What are the thoughts that drive your decision? Are you one who has the thought that the police never stop a person who drives less than ten miles over the speed limit and so you choose to always drive ten miles faster? Become aware then of whatever thoughts and whatever feelings you experience as you drive moment to moment.

The most important aspect of this challenge is of course to be present to the moment, unlike myself who tended to space out and be totally unaware of what I was doing. It is true that as we drive year after year it can become very automatic. It is also true that to be totally aware of all of the traffic behind and in front and to the sides we have the opportunity to avert potentially dangerous and life-threatening accidents for ourselves and for others.

Being mindful of the driving experience also enriches that experience. We have an opportunity to observe all of the beauty that we actually pass by such as the flowers and the trees. We actually get to observe and experience the smells, the feeling of what it is like to ride in that car and be vibrated as we bounce. It is also exhilarating to be attentive to the different road surfaces and how the driving experience shifts when that road surface becomes smooth or bumpy in transition.

Notice your habit of driving. Become aware moment to moment of the experience when you get into a vehicle whether you are a driver or passenger. Mindfulness means being present in the moment. When you drive you are not being mindful when you are planning your evening. You are not being mindful when you are evaluating something you might have said to a person earlier in the day. Live in the present moment. When you live in the present your life is enriched immeasurably. Most importantly stress dissolves like an ice-cream cone in the sunshine.

Robert