The Journey and the Guide: Mindfulness and Integration

We started our new series on The Journey and the Guide with an introduction on October 13th and the first week on October 20th.
​The journey starts with waking up to the reality of impermanence - this is how is began for the Buddha. Last week we thought about the experiences in our lives that made us 'wake up' and think about how we were living.
The first stage is also  about becoming more integrated, having more of our energies available for our deepest values. And that means looking at how we live our lives now day-by-day,, and perhaps reducing 'input' - the kind of distracting activity that keeps our minds superficial and scattered.
​This stage is about developing mindfulness in meditation and in our daily lives.. So as well as our regular practice of the Mindfulness of Breathing, it is suggested that we use a 'Three Minute Breathing Space' during the day - to
​- notice our thoughts, to see if they are repetitive and going round in familiar ruts, and if they are taking us away from our actual experience
​- bring our awareness to our body and our breathing, our present experience, calming the thoughts
​-widen our awareness to what is going on around us

​More on this theme this Thursday  27th October