“Whether we notice it or not, interconnection is always present. Every aspect of our lives is woven into a vast web of cause and effect, action and response,” George Beckwith writes. “Nothing exists in isolation.”
A mindful pause can open space for change—where even noticing a bad habit can be a win. What if we threw a little party for our awareness?Read Ellen Balzé’s reflections on mindfulness, habits, and self-compassion in Mindfulness and Changing Habits.
In the months following my serious fall and its traumatic aftermath, it was difficult for me to stay present. . . . Although I knew that thoughts of the past and future are futile, it was a challenge to let them go and be in the present moment, moment by moment.
What can we learn from the events or problems that encourage us to pause? My hope for us all is that we will not resist the challenges that arise, but see them as opportunities. I hope we will welcome these obstacles, these pauses, these moments of reflection. And while we do, let us practice loving-kindness toward ourselves and those around us.
Engaging in self-reflection this way helps us to see things as they are, not as they seem. We invite ourselves to go deeper, to investigate our habitual patterns of judgment and values that we often take for granted. As we do so, we find that there is space there, a gap where we can decide how we want to proceed. We don’t have to be prisoners in our own mental cage.
Cardiac coherence is a method based on conscious breathing in a diaphragmatic way. The list of scientifically proven benefits is long. After two weeks of daily practice, stress resistance and emotional balance slowly increase; intellectual capacity and decision-making increase; and overall well-being improves.
