This activity is an
experience of mindfulness closely based
on the information in
chapter 7 of your textbook. Do not be in a hurry to finish it. You will need
about 1-2 hours to complete it. If you must rush through it, wait until
another time to work on it when you can focus perfectly and really sink your
teeth into it. Trust me, it will be worth the investment you make.
Read through
this entire page before completing any work.
When you are ready to answer the questions, do so first using your Microsoft
Word or WordPerfect word-processing program. Then follow the instructions at the
end of the page
Be sure to check it for spelling, sentence structure and grammar.
This assignment involves
doing the "Simple Mindful Exercise" on page 104-105 of your
textbook.
As you follow the
instructions, write down on your paper your thoughts
AND everything that you discover. Use as many pages as you need.
If you begin to get bored or
feel yourself resisting the process, simply stop and
just look, tune in, be present with what is, notice what shows up, and then
continue writing.
After you have finished with this exercise lasting about
1 hour, transfer your thoughts from your paper into your word processor and
then into the box on the
other page (after putting
them into your word processor).
Be sure to include
in your description your experience of being mindful according to these
items:
A. What setting did
you select for your mindfulness activity? Why?
B. What were some of
the main things that you observed, especially those things you wouldn’t
normally notice?
C. What did you notice about your thoughts?
D. What did you notice about your feelings?
E. What insights did you gain about yourself and about mindfulness as you
were practicing being mindful?
F. What did you notice about your stress levels as you immersed yourself
fully in your present-moment experience?
Answer these
questions thoroughly.
My final thoughts about this process:
Many people come to me wondering why they are so stressed. When I give them this
exercise to do for 45 minutes to an hour they write it off as something silly
and stupid. They think they should be doing something seemingly worthwhile,
something much more important. My response usually sounds something like this:
If you are to ever be at peace,
you must come to accept, even embrace, what you see in front of you. And the
only way to really see what is in front of you is to stop analyzing, stop
judging, stop trying to figure everything out, and just look. Just stop and
observe. To be fully present in this moment is to be at peace. To be out of
this moment, thinking we are somewhere else, doing something else, is
precisely why we feel stress on a continual basis. To say this is a silly
exercise is to say life is silly. Look at your experience. There is never a
time when it is not "this moment, right here, right now." All of life is
successive moments of the present. We can always choose what we want to see in
this moment. To choose to be mindful, instead of mindless, is wisdom of the
highest order. It is, in my mind, one of the grand keys. But it must be
practiced. So practice, for the rest of your life. Because that is all you
have - moments.
Having said all this, I
suggest you be thorough with this activity. It is worth 25 points.