Make sure to water your garden…then things will be green on your side of the street. Taking time to nurture your soul, to nourish your body with healthy foods, to rest when your tired, to move throughout the day, to sit a while in the sun, to pray/meditate and say hello to something greater than yourself, to spend time with people who make you happy…that’s watering your garden....
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There are times when we hear somebody telling us something again and again, a hundred times, but because we think we know this already, we’ve heard it already, we finish the sentence for the person, or we readily draw a conclusion and the brain immediately closes down and doesn’t process any more information, thus shutting out that person who is there with us. Our body is physically there, but our mind is already focused on another object, or it’s planning, or daydreaming. The other person feels this and knows that he or she is speaking to a wall. Sometimes the person may ask, “Are you there? Are you listening to me?” We reply, “Yeah yeah yeah, I hear you,” but we’ve already shut that person out. In the spaciousness and quiet of our mind, we may belatedly truly hear a familiar sentence for the very first time. We finally understand the message and ask, “Is this what you mean?” After all this time, five years or twenty years, we suddenly understand what our mother, father, or partner has been trying to tell us, and they may exclaim in exasperation, “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all this time!” We suddenly see how this message is connected to everything else. We discover this aspect of the person for the first time, and this is a moment of deep communion in our relationship, with ourselves, and with each other. Sister Dang Nghiem Mindfullness is Medicine — A story of healing body and...
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We need to practice loving speech and deep listening with ourselves first of all. The inner child in us, the deepest part of us, has been trying to tell us for so many years certain things about ourselves, but we just don’t hear it. It’s like being in a crowded and noisy market. Neither can we hear a voice calling us nor can we hear the sound of a pin dropping. But when the market closes down and the cacophony ceases, if there’s a child crying, we will hear it. In the same way, we need to cultivate this quietude in ourselves throughout the day, so that when the cries from deep down inside us rise up, we will hear them. We will recognize ourselves for the first time. We will understand why we are the way we are, why we behave certain ways. Only when we can to do this for ourselves will we be able to do it for other people. Only then can we discover each other anew every day and in every moment. Sister Dang Nghiem, Mindfullness is Medicine — A story of healing body and...
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It takes courage to be still and thoughtfully choose your actions rather than re-acting spontaneously. Mindfulness is the key that opens your door to a fully engaged life. Mindfulness allows you to act on what you know you want, rather that acting out in the moment because of how you feel. “If you eat, don’t eat your projects. Don’t eat your sadness.Don’t eat the argument you just had. Don’t eat your loneliness or need. Just eat. If you walk. Just walk. If you drive, just drive. You have to choose again and again, to be in the present moment. The moment you realize you’re not mindful is when you actually become mindful. You must come back to it again, and again. It’s mental training.” Sister Dang Nghiem, Deer Park...
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It is more important to focus on where you are going than on where you have been! Don’t get stuck looking at what you have or haven’t done. Stay focused on your goals and where you want to go. Every minute is a new beginning....
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Real Medicine happens when…a doctor learns to practice mindfulness. If before going into a patient’s room, a physician does a walking meditation, gathers themselves, focuses their mind to be truly present, and then walks in quietly and peacefully. That’s already medicine. The physician is calm. Not fragmented, stressed, rushed or distant. The patient feels that attention, that tenderness, that care, that true presence. The patient is already soothed. That’s real...
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