Mindfulness Challenges

We have certainly all discovered in our personal lives the incredible value of focus and the incredible value of setting goals. It works.

When we get up in the day …
When we have a clear vision of exactly what we want to accomplish that day …
When we have a very specific plan …

We are able to implement this plan and by the end of the day it is done. Finished. We can accomplish precisely the goal that we established the first thing in the morning.

When we do this day after day and when we have an overall vision of where we are headed, we become very successful individuals. Focus works. It succeeds. It allows us to make miracles happen in our lives.

There is however, a formidable downside to focus. With focus we are narrow mindedly center on a very tiny aspect of what it means to be alive, of what it means to feel the full pleasure of occupying a body. One of the serious consequences of focus is that we pump out our adrenaline minute after minute. Our bodies never have the opportunity to settle into that delicious state of relaxation. When our bodies are pumping out adrenaline continuously, it is no wonder that after a few years our hormones are completely whacked. It is no wonder that the body says,

“Hey, there’s no real need or necessity for me to manufacture any dopamine because this body isn’t asking for it and doesn’t need it.”

Of course, without dopamine our bodies suffer serious neurological implications.

The idea of a vision quest as an exercise – and I might say, a very simple exercise at that – is to invite you to acknowledge and honor the value of focus but concurrently to recognize how that has narrowed experience of living life to its fullest. Open up a vision of seeing what is missed moment-to-moment. Lo and behold – you begin to take in the full pleasures, the full wonders of what the world has to offer. When we focus our awareness on the miracles of the moment our 40 or so hormones are invited to come back into full balance and harmony.

A vision quest then is an invitation to open up a narrow focus wider and wider and wider each time you sit; so that –

By the end of the week
By the end of the month
By the end of the year

You make it habit to take in with your vision the deliciousness of what it means to be present to your world in a fully occupied body.

You can still focus. You can still set goals. But, at the same time it is possible to open up your vision of what you are seeing moment-to-moment. The vision quest is most successful when you are in environments that are totally familiar.

There will be pictures that you hung years ago that you actually haven’t looked at or taken in for perhaps decades. Do that now.

There are items – perhaps knickknacks – in the room where you are sitting now. Notice their eloquence and detail today. Appreciate them in a new way.

Outside there are birds and critters that you may seldom stop to observe or even notice. Notice them now. Observe their beauty.

Notice how your body immediately settles into a place of deep relaxation.

The symptoms of Parkinson’s are no longer able to rear their ugly head when stress is not present. Bringing yourself into a place of centeredness and balance moment to moment means that stress cannot be a part of who you are in that moment.

Enjoy your vision quest for the rest of the week. Every time you sit down find something new to look at. Take the image in fully and completely. Enjoy the deliciousness of what it means to be alive and in a physical body.

Robert

You are cordially invited to pursue a Vision Quest this week. What in the world do I mean by a Vision Quest? The Vision Quest I propose is not about going out into the forest and sitting in a circle for four days without food or water. So, stay with me on this one. The Vision Quest I have in mind is actually simple to do, yet profound.

The Vision Quest that I propose for you to explore this week was inspired by Darlene Cohen who is a well-known author and an expert in helping individuals cope with chronic illness. Darlene suggested in an interview that I did with her several years ago that one of the ways she was successfully able to cope with her chronic illness was to take in the full senses wherever she happened to be. She would look at and take in every detail that she could find in whatever place she happened to find herself. This, as it turned out, expanded her awareness. It helped her become more mindful of being present in the moment. Whatever pain in the physical body might have been present simply fades away into the sunset.

The Vision Quest for this week is very simply designed and simple to do. It can potentially have profound implications on your ability to maintain centeredness and balance and on your ability moment-to-moment to maintain a stress-free body.

The Vision Quest Challenge

Whenever you sit down – and it does not matter where you sit – the challenge for the week is to look around from wherever you are sitting and find something that you have not noticed before and look at it. Take in its full essence. That is it folks.

We get accustomed to our routines. We walk from our bedroom as we are getting up to the kitchen. Many of us prepare either a cup of hot tea or coffee and then we sit down at a table, at a chair or perhaps in front of our computer or television. We do not really look anywhere because out routine is so habitual. We do not take in the beauty and nuances of our environment. Our minds are somewhere else. Our body simply runs through a rat maze day after day, missing all the beauty that surrounds us.

The challenge of the week is to expand your awareness through sight. Every time you sit down, trigger an awareness that says,

“Wait. I just found myself sitting down. I’m now going to look around where I am at and find something that perhaps I really haven’t noticed before. Or, if I’ve noticed everything that I see here where I am sitting, let me really intensely look at something that I haven’t taken the opportunity to appreciate.”

Expanding awareness through greater vision is one of the powerful techniques for becoming more mindful, more centered, more aware in the moment and more grounded.

Every time you sit down, immediately look to see something you haven’t noticed before. You may spend only five or ten seconds looking. You may spend several minutes or perhaps even longer taking in the texture, the color and the essence of what you are looking at.

Break out of the hamster wheel routine of how you normally sense the world that surrounds you. When you sit, set into motion a new way of presenting yourself to the world. Allow its essence to penetrate every cell of your body. Look at familiar objects and sights with fresh eyes.

Enjoy your vision quest this week. Each time you sit, find something new to notice. Stay focused on the purpose here: When stress is eliminated, symptoms wither away.

Robert