Nurturing t by Donald Altman
Do your days often feel like a blur? Are you just trying hard to keep up with the avalanche of activities before you — paying the bills, answering a grow- ing stack of emails, picking up and dropping off the kids, and meeting constant deadlines in all their forms? You know it’s time to slow down the busy mind if you’re asking yourself, Do mo- ments of calm really exist? The good news is that you have the power, in the very next minute, to reverse the overstimulation, excessive activity, constant plan- ning, and anxiety that keep your brain in overdrive.
When I was in the monastery, I learned a simple technique from an elder monk. He gave me a rosary made of 108 beads and told me to close my eyes and count one bead for every breath I took until I reached the end of the rosary. It sounded easy to me at the time, but it wasn’t. This practice builds attention and focus and sharpens an ability to increasingly notice, and appreci-
46
ate, how those little moments offer kernels of peace, joy, and rejuvenation.
Try it yourself, and see if you don’t still accomplish your goals but with more presence and en- joyment. Instead of a rosary, you can use each breath as a bead. In the next minute, count each breath you take. It might help to close your eyes. Most people take from eight to ten breaths a minute. If you lose count, don’t worry; just begin again. Try this now.
What was that like for you? If you noticed a crowd of thoughts between your counts, that’s okay. Taking one minute to con- nect with your breath and to fo- cus your attention has an impact nonetheless. I recommend you practice this technique any time you feel frazzled, anxious, and weary from overthinking or wor- rying. In time, regularly practicing this technique will leave you feeling noticeably refreshed and focused.
Aug/Sept 2011
“...a w bounda spen
What does nurturing mean for you? Nurturing can be ex- pressed and found in many dif- ferent ways. For example, take a minute now to look around your surroundings and find something that is pleasing or nourishing — a favorite color, texture, sound, object, or shape. Don’t limit your options. Look outside too, in the backyard, on the street, through a window.
Another way to nourish ourselves is to set healthy boundaries, which includes limiting the time we spend watching TV and using technology. An easy way to learn whether you need to change your habits is to notice the times when you feel bored, drained, sad, upset, or constricted. It could be that you simply need to change something in your envi-
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102