GUIDE TO MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness - A Meditation For Success At Work

As professionals, we have our plates full with one task leading to another. Stress gives us little time to take a break and focus on the other side of our lives, the personal space. Our busy schedules make it too costly to spend a peaceful family time and catch up with friends, making the decisions harder. This is where being mindful of your life’s course comes in. Rather than getting consumed in the rat race we often talk about, we should rather pause and check what our life is becoming.

Adapting mindfulness is not rocket science; we can instill it in our life however we want to. The guide to mindfulness is all about adapting the right kinds of attitude to develop your capacity so that you lead a more meaningful life. The following attitudes can enhance your outlook on the world around you, giving you peace of mind. Who would not want that?

1. Acceptance – It does not mean accepting what others want you to; it is about coming to terms with your own feelings instead of running away from them. Once you acknowledge where you are, it will be easier to get to the needed change.
2. Curiosity – It is okay to have the urge of knowing something. Becoming curious about your own thoughts and feelings will lead you to answers. Ask yourself those questions which decode your emotions.
3. Let it go – Holding on seems easier, but it has pain hidden beneath it. You should be mindful of the harm negative memories can bring you, so do not dwell deep in the past which can harm your future.
4. Be rational – Rather than categorizing your experiences into good or bad, just observe them with an open mind. If you begin classifying them, your thoughts will be channeled in that direction.
5. Don’t strive – We often see escape as the easier option if things do not go as planned and jot down the goal for another experience. That is a bad practice; do not ruin your capabilities by being too dependent on goals.
6. Believe – Be confident in yourself, your intuition and mindful living.

Now that we laid out the paths of the ultimate guide to mindfulness, following are the driving forces which will get you to the destination. These factors will help you be aware of mindfulness so keep them in your sight so that you can turn back to them. Pin them up on your cupboard, maybe?

1. Intentions- As we often hear that actions are based on intentions; they are a major driving tool for your mindful journey. Interestingly, they are the starting and the ending points because intentions are what we hope to get out of a mindful change in our lives. Therefore, have faith in them and do not alienate from the motivation itself. Whether you want stress elimination or meet your true self, your intentions will keep you on track. The stronger your intention is, the regular you will be in practicing mindfulness.

1. Attention – In order to be regular in practicing mindfulness, you need to enhance your attention. You can develop attentive attitude through meditation be it tradition or informal.

1. Attitude – At this point, we would like you to go back to the attitudes we introduced to and pay attention to how you can adapt them easily.

Now that general rules of your guide to mindfulness are set, we will give you some daily life hack to enhancing mindful living. The great thing about this art is that you can practice it anytime; you do not need to go out of the way.

1. Communicating – When in conversation with someone else, hear the tone of yours and their voice. Catch your thoughts wandering away and drag yourself back to the conversation or else you will hurt feelings.
2. Exercise – Next time you step on the treadmill or go out for a walk; keep your mind on the track your body is on. Focus on your emotions and the environment around you rather than how the person in front of you is working out. Be curious!
3. Holidays – Take a break and treat yourself with a vacation away from your comfort zone. Sipping lemonade at the beach should not be making you plan your next holiday, rather enjoy the surroundings before you need to pack and leave. We would advise you to keep your camera and phone away, too.   
4. Music – Our moods mostly shift gears with the music we listen to. Plug you earphones and play your favorite songs and catch the sounds bits appearing from nowhere and then disappearing back into silence.
5. Live in the moment – It is either now or never, so slow down and get caught in the moment. Refresh yourself with sniffing the roses on the side of your jogging track instead of hurrying to finish the jog.

While you are done reading and thinking of where to begin the quick fix, bear in mind that being mindful is a journey not a destination. The simplest of actions will kick start a chain reaction and you will find yourself living life in a very simple way. You will begin to see things in the way they are, without any influence just so that you know what you need to be happy and what needs to be left behind because it is not needed for your personal and professional development. We wish you a happy journey!

Love,

Peace Quarters

Mindful Ways to Eat is a Practice, Not A Naturalistic Phenomenon

It is an unrealized human cognition that no action of a human surpasses without the utilization of the consciousness of the brain and without all doubts; every given action is related to the brain. The human brain knows and actively participates in the coming together of all actions.

A common misconception of what we eat and its significantly weak correlation with the brain is a matter more inclined towards ignorance. As a result of this, it must be clearly understood that one’s headache during the day is directly related to the unhealthiness of the stomach.

Yes, it’s a naturalistic phenomenon, though much ignored, a decision over two different intervals will not change the decision you take as it is the same brain function deciding. However, the presence and the entire conception of mindfulness may impact the decision and precautionary thoughts that are taken realistically.

So, how does mindfulness impact the thoughts? Have you ever felt hot because of the scorching head in your head and been told not to think about it? It is true, don’t.

Be focused, there is no presence of heat if your mind is focused and it equally prioritizes.

Now, simply, pick your entire understanding of mindfulness and connect the dots with the daily consumption of food. In order to attain the very energy which dwells within the food, it is essential to be mindful and awake when one consumes food. This energy is not calculated by the number of calories the product contains, one can survive the entire day on one single slice of bread as well. However, what is important to learn during the process of eating, is the acceptance of food and the spiritual capability to excrete the very core elements of the slice of bread.

Hence, whether it is 50 grams of food that you eat daily or 300 grams, it is a matter of excreting the energy you need with the entire basic structure dependent on the human mind and the acts of mindfulness during a meal. What matters is not the amount of food; in fact, 50 grams of food would be better digested than 300 grams.

The Practice

Here are some mindful ways to eat and understand the basic concept behind energizing oneself with little from within.

Communicate With Your Food – Eating is not simply about taking your meal, chewing it and letting it pass on to your stomach. Although, the idea of communicating with your food may simply be unassertive, know that you must make sure that you do.

Understand the Energy Within – Within every meal you take, there is more energy than you may be able to wander about and instead of wandering about the amount of energy, realize how to utilize the energy you are consuming. For every food you consume, tell yourself how much the need is.

Know Your Food – When provided a meal, realize it completely that it is the right food you are having and that every element of the food from within is to help your sense of understanding the energy that you develop within.

Be Grateful of What You Have Eaten – When you have eaten your meal, your fruit or your slice of bread, be grateful for what you have taken.

Food does not have a connection with you, it has a deeper connection with the soul within. Before eating, one is completely be in a mutual understanding with the food and if the food itself, disapproves your actions of consuming it, it is apparent that you let going of your soul within and performing an action off course. Any human who fails to listen to the self within, fails to acquire the entity of the divine as a mindful being.

The Acceptance of Food

Prior to any meal, it is an essential practice that all of you must perform and that is not to hog on the food in front, in fact, be patient, be content and be aware. Having an understanding of the action you are to perform, it is essential for all to pray and mindfully accept the food as the energy provider to each every cell that is present within the human body.

According to the studies of the modern science, there are certain foods that simply are not compatible with the human body. This primarily is the cause of eating foods that are simply not meant to be, specifically considering the naturalistic presence of the segregation of food which depends on the nature of existence itself. What is meant to be the food for humans, is not the food for animals and what is meant to be the food for animals, is not meant to be the food for plants.

Rather than being picky in life regarding material which may not matter as much as human health, understand the mindful ways to eat and be careful as to what you are to eat. Choose your foods carefully, mindfully and prior to its consumption, separate yourself from the world and connect with the food and accept it as the ultimate energy, despite the quantity.

The analysis of good food comes over time and the basic essence lies within the impact of the food your thought process and how you function beyond the consumption and how you feel within.

Tagged with: Health, Inner Peace, Mindfulness

Be mindful. Be healthy. Be composed.

What Desires Are Doing As The Natural Longing To Possess Something Good

Desires are that glittery attraction which overpowers your wants to possess something, dulling the worthy gold. How often have you been driven by your desires? Did your desires to achieve a set level of reward satisfy you? Did you ever stop wishing for more in your life? How often do you feel you are living to fulfill your desires and it is not the other way around? All these questions may have darted answers in your mind but do you actually know what desiring something actually is like?

Desires, by definition are supposedly limited till the expressing of a longing. Seemingly underrated definition of this natural phenomenon has limitless significance in a human life. In a layman’s words, desire is ‘the natural longing to possess any seeming good; eager wish to obtain or enjoy’. Evidently, it is a natural process which kicks off the moment this world greets you with its arms wide open to mold your soul. You cannot block that free hug out, so is there any other way to conquer this giveaway by the world we live in? Getting rid of desires is not possible as we are born with them to begin with. Our journey begins with the instinctual desires; to live, eat and sleep, later personal desires take on.

There May Never Be Any Limit

Achieving one desire eventually leads us to another one; it is a vicious cycle as it may seem to some or addictive game with levels you have to unlock. Likewise, we are told that if we fail to reach the stars, then sky is not the limit. This embarks us on the journey of wanting something else or the desire magnifies all together. Therefore, it is not in our control to shed desires entirely. If desires do not seek our approval to creep into our mind and slowly take over our emotions, then they would not abandon our emotional cycle upon our will either.

We can give ‘desire’ different names in hope of staying in denial that we have shredded them, but in reality that does not happen. Calling desires, ‘ambitions’ will not take the demanding character of a desire away from it and similarly, ‘craving’ would seemingly be an intense desire. Therefore, coming to terms with the fact that this natural phenomenon is a part of us, we can be at peace as far as the existential crisis goes.

Often our quest to materialize our desires exhausts us in the process and we want to kill them. Even aspiring to kill is a desire in itself; therefore it would be nothing but a desire shielding itself against another one.

Desires 1 – 0 You

Desires being immortal leave us with a few choices, rather options. Having unlimited desires makes us weak, considering we can possibly not achieve all of them. Desires are a curse when they turn into attractions, eating on our mind’s peacefulness. Considering that human nature is accustomed to get attracted to the things that are out of reach makes the mind grow weak. You know when you really wanted to be with the girl you could not be with? Yes? And all your energy was lost on thinking about her? The more difficult it seemed the more you were at unrest. That is when the pure desire of seeking your love interest grew into a bad one considering the possible outcome, gradually growing into a harmful attachment. At times like these, desires lead you to a dark territory where you lose your peace of mind and harm others around you.

It Is Not A Dead End Yet!

By now, desires would be looking like a vulture, but they are not there to stay. We have the power to make them look like doves whom you can keep and send away upon your will. Happiness from this point onwards should mean how to embrace your desires, not achieve all of them. A happy life can now mean analyzing your desires to decide which one can be followed and how far, discarding the rest. A mindful soul can channel desires in a positive direction and gain control over them. The next time you want that million dollar car, ask yourself if your ego has initiated the fire. Ask yourself what will it take to fund this wish. Draw out your pros and cons, all you will need a pen and paper perhaps. While you are sorting the table out, check how many will be effecting positively and who will be harmed including your own self. If it still seems to be to glittery with no accessible resources to attain it, remind yourself the last time a desire brought you to the point of misery.

Yes, then the attachment will begin to die as it will cease getting the attention it demands. Let that million dollar car be that dove that you could afford to give shelter and be happy with the car you drive everyday considering there are people out there who cannot even afford it at all. This is how you divert your path of peacefulness from reaching the dead-end.

Now that you have the power to direct your thoughts and emotions, keep yourself in check so that your bucket list is more realistic than just glittery. It is perfectly okay to want ‘greater’ things, but make sure that ‘greater’ is aligned with the happy ‘YOU’ you want to be. Only then you will get yourself the energy to build your peaceful world. A world which has gates opening to desires that promise you prosperity and well-being and leading out the harmful attachments.

Congratulations! Now you have the key to a peaceful happy way of thinking which unlocks nothing but good desires for you.

Tagged with: Desires, Self Control, Self Help, Guide to Mindfulness

The Ultimate Guide to Mindfulness at Work, Because It Matters.

By M Taha Alam— July 16, 2014 0 682

This world is a programmed race and that is not something only we claim, struggles through the day and finally the commencement whenever it does. The entire days struggle usually comes with stress and once you know how to fight back, your sunset will be a bright one. However, the skills you would need to manage your emotional being and the workplace relations attached are never taught at school. Neither will someone be your savior unless you master them yourself. Science, today, has crafted a vast area of study under ‘mindfulness’.Mindfulness, originating from Buddhist traditions, encompasses the master art of developing new neural networks control your emotional mind.

Discoveries have pushed mindfulness into today’s world and to our good luck it may work as magic helping us to be ahead in the workplace struggle. Most of the struggle comprises of how you manage your relations with the people working with you. You will not have to win over anyone; practicing mindfulness will help you be victorious over your weaknesses. Once you increase your focused attention on the current situation, you will draw a conclusion without judgment.

It is in your domain, all you have to do is sit back and read through, and you may thank us later.

Let Go of That Negativity Within

Imagine your colleague got the salary bonus instead while you think you worked harder for it, now you dwell into depression telling yourself how you must not be friends with him anymore. No, that will not be the solution and neither will it promise you next month’s reward. Enhance your thoughts in the present and string them with positivity. If he got it this month, he did not steal your share. Rather he worked for it as much as any other employee did. Share that positive vibe of victory, do not alienate from it.

You Are Not The Same, Let It Go

Often we base our future interactions on our past rather than leaving it behind.  Past, present and future are all in different time frames and they must not impact one another. Practice mindfulness to segment them differently so that your interactions with your colleagues are in no way based on the unpleasant incidents of the past. Every day, start afresh.

Today Is A Fresh Start

Like we mentioned earlier, leaving the past behind will let you embrace the future eagerly. Enhanced thought process will regenerate neural patterns which make you be that someone who loves their job. Enter the office with that winner smile because you earned it, inspire every co – worker you greet on the way. Yes, greet them even if they do not.

Learn Till You Earn, Then Learn More

Your learning will not come only from your boss and neither will it be a new thing every time. Open your mind to be mindful of the best practices around you. Trace them in that janitor’s behavior which makes him punctual. Acknowledge and embrace it, it will make you admire those who work below you.

Thank You, Merci, Danggsche – They All Mean The Same

We do acknowledge that thank you is a word present in every language; it will be understood and appreciated no matter how you say it. Pay attention to minute details of your co-workers because in their course of everyday struggle, you will find them doing things for you. If your colleague in the next booth is keeping his voice low over the phone, he is doing it so that you do not get disturbed. Hear that effort and thank him, in any way possible.

Listen To Understand

We always want to be heard and the best way to expand our attention is to listen to others for the sake of understanding, not just replying.  It will not only be doing something for others, rather you will be helping yourself as well. Focusing on others will take your mind away from your to-do worries and boost co-operation simultaneously.

Take A Breather

It is impossible to persist with work in a linear pattern, it is in all honesty, of no use. Begin to time your breaks and go for a walk, roam around the office, sit outside and have a breath. Feel the attachment with nature that a human has and begin to feel the freedom within your office space. This breather is your space, leave everything on your desk before you walk away only to come back refreshed.

Your Body Speaks As Much

One’s body language talks louder than their words. Often speech uttered with the right kind of body language will be understood more, therefore display the right kind of gestures when someone else is conversing with you. If you are in a meeting; nod, sit up straight and avoid unnecessary hand moments to reflect your attention rather than losing it. It will make your colleagues trust you and you will be present more.

Choose Your Words Wisely

Analyze every word before uttering as if you are in the listener’s shoes. Our words have an effect on the audience as well as us. Therefore, focus on what you say to others by using appropriate words. If you tell your co-worker that it is ‘impossible’ to meet the deadline, then you will end up making less effort. Watch your words before they are marked.

Do You See Your Own Reflection? You Must

At the end of the day, reflect upon your reactions to incidents at work and how they developed your relations with your co-workers or weakened them. Analyze every detail thoroughly to know how firm you were on your emotional grounds. Notice actions without judgment so that you can eliminate personal bias, for positive interactions.

Be Aware of Your Own Mindfulness with Your Bosses

After browsing though mindful dynamics of working with our colleagues, we must acknowledge the authority which is governing us. Chalk out the parameters of your independence and the position of your boss to avoid transgression. Practicing mindfulness will enable you to be alert so that you do not go overboard.

Practicing mindfulness during your everyday interactions with your colleagues helps you stay attuned to being positive. It will not be a day’s work, therefore practice it over and over so that you master it gradually.

Be mindful everyday to let it become your default way of working as you must not seek happiness elsewhere, it lies within.

 Tagged with: Inner Peace, Mindfulness

7 Ways To Stay Away from Negative Thoughts

By M Taha Alam— May 26, 2014

In the world we live now, there are plenty of things inevitable as a whole and in all honesty, regardless of how hard we try to develop the sense of living through them, we end up becoming one of the many who are primarily unable to deal with all the negativity.

From childhood, the thoughts revolving around the realms of negativity are faced by almost all individuals, whether it relates to dating a person you are attracted to, a new school you join or even something your parents may say.

1) Find Positive Energy Around You
It is often found that individuals around us are commonly fed up or battling simply another ordeal in life and what makes them better is to transfer their undesirable thoughts into you. Therefore, the simple admission of happiness within ones life comes from the separation of negativity around you. Let go of negative people.

2) Control Your Thoughts
As all humans go through the ability of mining their own thoughts, it is essential to understand the type of thoughts that one must acquire. Every time you come across a negative thought, remind yourself of the positivity that dwells within you and let it be exuberant. Learn to let go of negative thoughts.

3) Read Positive Quotes
It is immensely necessary to begin using the words and thoughts of those who live in positivity through the learning they have acquired. Learn. What will make you feel better is the understanding of another regarding the same situation you may be in. For positive quotes follow Peace Quarters.

4) Practice What You Preach
It is partially easier to preach something which has been read overtime but it is fairly difficult to consistently practice what you have learned. Hence, make sure that before you try to sit down and give someone a shoulder over negativity, realize it within yourself that you are firm on the stance of being positive in difficult times yourself.

5) Listen to Music that Calms your Soul
Listening to soothing music will allow you to understand the meaning within the separation from the world for sometime to find your inner self and redirect your soul from the negative thoughts towards all the positive energy. Listen to this music during showers, before sleep or even during your lunch break at work and within your mind keep telling yourself to let go of what does not matter.

6) Spend Time with Yourself
It is not easy to be alone but you got to be partially selfish and there is nothing wrong with that. If you are being called somewhere by your friends and you do not feel like being a part of the gathering, don’t go. Utilize this time to not sit idle and nor think of the worst possibilities in your life, however, make an evening out of it. Do what you like, think what you want and be who you are.

7) Meditate
Every time you feel negativity evolving within yourself and you being unable to cope with it, sit down in a relaxed, quiet environment, cross your legs, close your eyes and lose yourself through time and space. Go on a journey to a land only known to you and place it how you wish to.

Live Your Life, The Way You Want It To Be. Think Positive.