Skillful Living

Mindfulness is not just a form of meditation, it’s a discipline for living well.

Being mindful is the gap between what you are being asked to do and what you say yes to.

It’s the space between reacting to a cantankerous person and finding a moment in which to summon up a more constructive response.

It’s the breath you take before accepting an invitation during which you remind yourself that what you really need right now is an early night.

Mindfulness is using your hard won wisdom to consciously make decisions that keep you balanced, healthy and nourished. Healthy people are kinder, cheerier and they suffer less stress.

In essence, it’s the skill of learning to be exactly who you are and letting that be exactly enough. What choice do you have but to be emphatically you, to understand that it is your foibles that make you lovable, not your perfection.

You are a living, breathing thing that needs certain conditions, unique to you, to thrive.

Mindfulness helps.

Rebellion from a Calm Place

How well are you doing at maintaining inner peace & sense of hope in the face of this busy, noisy, seeming-dark world?

Patanjali, the great yoga sage, addressed this issue with his students about 2,000 years ago, teaching:

Be friendly with happy people,
Have compassion for the unhappy
Cultivate equanimity towards the wicked
Yoga Sutra 1:33

It’s easy enough to be friends with happy people & to find compassion for those who are suffering. Harder to maintain equanimity towards those who lie & cheat for their own benefit.

Equanimity, mind you: this is not about ignoring bad deeds or condoning immoral behaviour, but maintaining inner balance in the face of it, even as you fight against, or reject it.

Inner balance will help you to stay buoyant & hopeful in difficult times, will lower your stress levels, improve your sleep & increase your energy & resilience. Knowing how to condemn wrong action from a place of calm, energised stability? That’s real strength.

Hacking Happiness

“Sometimes I feel like I'm actually on the wrong planet. It's great when I'm in my garden, but the minute I go out the gate I think, What the hell am I doing here?” So said George Harrison in the 80s.

Many of us will relate to this sentiment, home feels safe & the world outside is crazy. But we have an additional problem today, which is that we all have a small computer in our pocket that brings the outside world to our garden, our bed, our sofa at all hours of the day and night. The boundary of the garden gate has dissolved & our safe space has been invaded.

Without that safe place, humans struggle. Our bodies are built to be able withstand stress for short periods of time & afterwards need to withdraw, rest & replenish. We all know what happens when we don’t: prolonged stress causes high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, heart disease, over-eating, weakened immune systems, IBS & insomnia. We don’t want any of this.

Happily, our systems can be hacked in the opposite direction. We can raise levels of the neurotransmitters & hormones that help to reduce stress & anxiety, regulate mood, increase feelings of pleasure & overall well-being. We can choose to feel better.

It’s simple, it’s free & it’s not strenuous. A lot of it is fun. But it does require a little self-control. You are going to have to consistently make a few good choices.

They’ve deliberately designed apps, websites, notifications & games to be as addictive as possible. Click click clickety-click. But you’re rebel & a yogi, I know who my money is on.

Love,
Sarah x