manabunnow4zph – Mindfulness Challenges

Deeper Meaning Behind Aging

Did you take my suggestion earlier in the week and look at yourself in the mirror? I did. What did you discover? What were your observations?

I’ll tell you what mine were. As I looked, I saw my receding hairline and I zeroed in on my wrinkles. Every time I look in the mirror I worry about that receding hairline. I think to myself the same thought,

“Oh my goodness, I think it’s receding even more this month. I’m not going to have any hair left in just a year or two.”

What were your worries? How did you expand and expound upon what you observed to be evidence of aging when you looked at yourself in the mirror?

I’ve got a big secret for you and it goes something like this. If I take what worries me – in my case my receding hairline – and I ask a loved one,

“So, what do you think about my receding hairline? Doesn’t it just drive you crazy?”

What do you suppose they’re going to say? I can tell you in an instant. They are going to say,

“Huh? What? What do you mean receding hairline? I like your receding hairline. I think it’s distinguished. I don’t look at that and think oh my God you’re getting older. That’s not how I interpret that whatsoever.”

Perhaps I’m going to be brazen and I’ll then just stretch my point a bit, “But what about my wrinkles?” You know what I’m likely to hear? The response is more than likely going to be,

“What wrinkles?”

Perhaps I might want to press even further.

“You know, I’ve got more and more wrinkles on my forehead.” Very likely the response I’m going to hear is,

“Hmm, I hadn’t noticed any wrinkles on your forehead.”

You see, others tell us the truth of the meaning that we attribute to aging. We are very adept at creating stress in our life for reasons that do not even exist!

The reality is everything around us including our bodies, is aging. There is simply no way around it. If we zero in at any point in our lives we can likely recall similar anxieties about our body falling apart.

Go back to the time when you were five years old. Your body was changing then too. You may very likely have had a thought at the age of five of missing something all of a sudden that you liked about your body the month before. We seem to always be judging what it is that we think we see about ourselves. Those judgments almost always have no merit and no meaning to others whatsoever.

Everything around us is aging and changing. It is the way of the world and has always been the way of the world.

There is birth.
There is life.
There is death.

If we continue to live our lives by making assessments of how bad it is that certain trappings of aging are evident we are discrediting the beauty of what life is all about.

Better yet, cast all of those judgments aside for they have no meaning whatsoever to others. Take in the essence of whatever is encountered. Consider looking at yourself again in the mirror – as will I – and ask yourself,

“What’s here now? Look at this! What’s here now?”

Take in the essence, the beauty and the miracle of what you see.

Aging is something that will always be here for us, for others and for every living entity in the world. Stop fighting it. Take in the full essence of all that is. When you do just that, you will find your life force will explode. Cast out the judgments that block the explosion of your life force.

Let your life force flourish by being present each moment,

Accepting
Reveling
Celebrating
Admiring

All that is in this quite magnificent place that we live called planet earth.

Robert

Aging

Start with yourself this week as I invite you to track evidence of aging, moment to moment, day to day. When I say start with your self, the next time that you look at yourself in a mirror ask yourself:

“How have I been aging recently?
Do I have a wrinkle or two more than I could remember before?
Do I have a gray hair or two more than I can remember just last month?
Are my eyelids droopy?
Is my jaw sagging?”

Look at yourself; go ahead and be critical if you want and just ask yourself the question,

“How have I been aging?”

Record your observations if you will – whatever observations you would like to make about your own aging. Then put that record of observations aside.

For the remainder of the week collect evidence of aging that can be found throughout your world. For example,

Notice paint on walls. Detect evidence of paint that may be fading or chipping.
Notice dogs. Every dog you pass, ask yourself, “What’s the evidence of aging here? Does this dog have gray hair. Perhaps they are having a problem keeping up with their owner during the walk?
Notice evidence of aging in trees. What evidence is there of aging in trees that you are drawn to observe? Is there moss growing on the branches ? Are the branches ragged with age?
Notice vegetables in your refrigerator. Vegetables spoil when left uneaten.
Notice expiration dates on products that you purchase at the store. Many food products have expiration dates because past a certain point the food spoils.
Notice neon signs that might have letters missing. After all, the neon signs did not have letters missing when they were new. Now that they have aged it is very common for neon signs to have a flicker in a letter or two or a letter that refuses to lite up.
Notice the petals on flowers which are wilting. Flowers are beautiful but they never last forever.
Notice the fruit that you eat this week. If left uneaten, fruit eventually rots and discolors.
Notice cars. Clearly some cars are new; they have just been manufactured. Other cars are decades old and have significant evidence of rust.

Acknowledge all evidence of aging as you go through your daily routine this week, minute by minute, day by day throughout the entire week.
And be sure to have fun as you assume the role of a meticulous detective who has a keen eye toward tracking evidence of aging in pretty much everything you encounter.

Robert

Deeper Meaning Behind Anonymous Acts of Kindness

The purpose of each week’s mindfulness exercise is to take us out of our head and to take us out of our ego into the mysterious glory and wonder of being in the present moment and living life to the fullest. You have heard this many times: We cannot undo the past and we cannot know the future. The best we can do is to be fully present in the moment.

What is the deeper meaning that underlies the assignment this week to commit random acts of kindness that are anonymous? Why not let people know exactly what you did? Isn’t that more honest you might ask? Well here’s the reason.

When we actually do something for someone else, there is a lot of mental gobblygook that underpins that decision. I do it myself all the time. For example, I decide to do something for a friend because they have done something for me recently. I think to myself,

“You know, I need to balance this out. They keep inviting us to dinner, we need to exchange that invitation and invite them to dinner. They know that they invited us to dinner and of course we know that we need to invite them.”

Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with this thinking. It’s obviously important to have an even exchange of giving and taking with friends. But this thinking also shifts us away from being totally and completely in the moment – of relishing the wonder and the glory of being able to do something for another person. Our thoughts can always give us a logical rationale for why we are doing what we are doing for others.

Acts of kindness then may actually be on their face, an act of kindness, but underneath there may be an expectation of some giveback, some return. For example,

“I’ll do this for you and now, because you owe something to me, you’re going to have to do something for me, which is what I’ve been asking for all along.”

Again, let me emphasize, there’s nothing wrong with this rationale, but it does take us out of being totally and completely present in the moment.

To experience the unreserved joy, exhilaration and surge of energy that you will be able to experience when you commit an act of kindness, you can do so thoroughly and completely and fully when it becomes anonymous – when the act of kindness has a purity about it. There are no expectations of a pay back. There is no thought that this is something you are doing in order to even the score with another person. The act on its face is simply a pure and unadulterated act of kindness that comes from your heart.

This invitation – if you have chosen to accept it – is quite exhilarating in itself because it requires that you invent ways to be totally and completely in the present moment. You do that and you do not have any entanglement with your ego or your mind. You do not think about the past. You do not anticipate or worry about the future. When you commit your act of kindness you are totally and completely in the present.

Some acts of kindness require that you be more attentive to the present or else you are going to get caught. You have to be very grounded and centered when you commit these acts else you will be discovered.

That’s the reason then why acts of kindness offer us the opportunity to become more in the present, more mindful. Always keep in mind the purpose of the mindfulness exercises is to learn ways of reducing stress in our lives and as stress is dissolved, we suddenly look at our bodies and are able to recognize symptoms don’t seem to be present anymore. The link between stress and symptoms is strong, but that does not mean it can not be broken.

Dissolve that link with doing anonymous acts of kindness for the rest of the week.

May you secretive.
May you be sneaky
May you have endless fun for the rest of the week.

Robert

Anonymous Acts of Kindness

My invitation for you this week is to be totally sneaky and secretive. Doesn’t just hearing that give you a burst of energy? We were certainly secretive and sneaky when we were kids, but when we become adults most people tend to be honest and open and want to be forthright.

This week, however, let’s adopt a more secretive life. My invitation and challenge is to commit an anonymous act of kindness each day. Let me emphasize the word anonymous. My guess is that many of you commit many, many acts of kindness every day to others and hopefully to yourself.

The difference is that these acts of kindness need to be anonymous; no one should know that you actually committed any particular act of kindness on their behalf.

I must warn you, it’s not exactly as easy as it sounds. This requires a bit of planning the night before. Please put a little notebook beside your bed. Before you retire for the night plan out exactly what act of kindness you will commit the next day. Feel free to sneaky and cleaver in your designs.

Keep in mind that you do not want to be caught. You don’t want anyone to realize,

“Ah, I figured it out. You were the one who did it. Well, thanks a lot.”

That’s not the idea. The idea is that all acts of kindness that you commit are anonymous and secret. That’s why it takes quite a bit of planning to be able to actually implement these acts each and every day successfully.

I’m going to give you now some examples of what anonymous acts of kindness might look like. Obviously the list is endless. I could presents thousands of examples, but in the end you will have to come up with your own ideas of what would give you a burst of energy in committing an anonymous act of kindness that has meaning for you.

For example, you could:

Wash dishes that are dirty for someone else. Of course if you live in a household where it’s obvious you did it, that particular act is not going to be anonymous.
Pick up some trash during a walk in your neighborhood. Nobody is going to know that you actually did that.
Make an anonymous donation to a charity that you treasure and relish.
Leave a health food candy bar on a co-worker’s desk when no one else is looking.
Send an anonymous note of appreciation and thanks to someone who was particularly helpful, though you obviously don’t want to be clear about what they did specifically.
Answer a question (that you happen to have the answer to) on the internet, but do that anonymously.
Send flowers to a friend – what a thrill it is to receive flowers and you have no idea who sent them!
Plant a tree in your yard for a loved one who may be particularly challenged or troubled this week.
Send a prayer in your thoughts as you pass by a stranger. Your prayer could be: “May you find endless joy and happiness today.”

Please remember the rules of this kindness mindfulness invitation this week.

It needs to be an act of kindness; that’s probably not going to be hard to fulfill.
The act of kindness needs to be anonymous. Nobody can figure out that you actually committed the deed.

The end result promises to:

Open up those blocked energy channels and meridians throughout your body.
Strengthen your energy field.
Actualize your divine essence.
Come into your full power.

One of the ways to accomplish these ambitious goals is to be mindful in committing anonymous acts of kindness. May you have a magnificent week as you dole out random acts of kindness that are entirely anonymous.

Robert