 here we go. Okay, hello, welcome to Mindfulness Monday. Today we're gonna, I thought I'd read an excerpt from my latest book, which is Calm in the Mids of Chaos. And I just randomly went like, and I came to day eight, and mindfulness creates interdependence. And I read you bits of it, and then we go into a meditation that I actually quite like, which is the mountain meditation. And it's basically the mountain meditation talks a lot about the thought process behind it is, is the mountain is always there. It's a constant. Okay, and everything around it changes. Okay, but the mountain just stays. And it just keeps being the mountain. And it just keeps staying whether it's raining, whether it's snowing, whether there's 100 people walking up it, or nobody walking up it, or whatever, whatever's happening in the world where COVID has struck, or whatever the scenario is, that mountain stays the same. And in many ways, you are like that mountain. And if we can adopt some of those, you know, fundamental core principles of being the consistent thing that sits in the middle, and allow all of these things just to the clouds, to float around us and come around us. And we stay strong and rooted and grounded as the mountain. There's a lot of sense in it. Okay, because we can a lot of our time be influenced, or pushed, or trauma, or, or, or whatever it is, stress, anxiety, all of these life things that come and hit us in the face, metaphorically speaking. But the mountain just keeps staying there. It keeps strong, it keeps resilient, it keeps this way. So that's the meditation we're going to do. But in terms of the actual book, I thought I'd just read something from it. It says here we are on day eight. And I hope you're all well. Usually we get to a point when we're doing these challenges, when we start to wonder about a few things. Is it really working? Should I carry on? Am I wasting my time? Is this really for me? Or this is fantastic. This is really helping on so many different levels. When it comes to practicing mindfulness, there will be times when you're really excited. And there'll be times when you just feel like you can't do it. There will be days when it feels like you've made massive progress, and others where you felt like there was no progress at all. This is all part of the process. And it's okay to feel this way. Because it's about having that awareness of non-judgmental thoughts, or periods of self-critique, and doing it all with loving kindness, openness, and caring. My definition of mindfulness is awareness of things that arise when you intentionally pay attention, but doing it without judgment in an open and kind manner. I want to talk about compassion today, but before I do, I want to remind you that what we practice is what we grow. During difficult times of the because I was in the virus at the time, difficult times of the virus outbreak, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to not live in fear and uncertainty. The media was belting us with an ever-increasing rate of deaths every day, and the lockdowns were such a new and alien concept to us. The fact that the entire world was being hit by this pandemic was in some ways comforting in others, downright terrifying on others. We're on the brink of becoming extinct as a species. Is that the truth? To you reading this, it might be an absolutely ridiculous notion, but for us, it was a very real concern because of the rates of things that were spread in. It was in certain times, and the reason I mention this is because I think it was the ultimate example, because most of us sat in fear and terror every day, waiting for the other shoe to drop. While others chose to make the most of the extra time we now with our families and filled it with games and laughter, can you see how easy you can fall into a negative frame of mind and then you just get stuck there? How your thoughts can literally terrorize you for days on end if you allow them? Always remember that we practice is what we grow, and we need to practice compassion, loving kindness in times like these. The words we use, the words we should use in our practice are openness, acceptance, curiosity, and non-striving. We all have the desire to be better every day, but we should be patient, trusting, and letting go without judgment. The word for today is compassion, and how do we grow compassion? How do we make compassion something that we really cultivate in our everyday lives? I'm not saying that we'll be happy and compassionate with every experience we have, but I want us to collect those experiences and hold them with care, kindness, compassion, and empathy. We've said before that neuroplasticity is what we can do to help cultivate and change the way our brain works in the long term. Mindfulness has been proven to change the way your mind works, and it significantly increases the compassion and empathy we have for ourselves. It's important for us to remember that our essential nature as human beings is to be loving, compassionate, and have empathy. The world and life can often engulf us with essential, engulf these essential natures and change the neural highways for the worst, which is why it's so important to practice this with ourselves from moment to moment in order to strengthen the compassion within ourselves for others. We're all guilty of having a pattern of self-judgment or striving and self-criticism. Why can't I do this? Why can't I do that? Why can they do this? And I can't. I wish I was them. We are who we are, and it is integral for us to realize this because success is being the best person you can be with clarity, purpose, and moral, essential natures. We find ourselves living in this hurried and stressed world which causes us to lose touch with our natural selves and drop our levels of striving, love, and compassion. Mindfulness allows us to slow down our thoughts so that we can clearly see and remain connected to our deep values. When we are hurried, scared, or worried, our natural compassion doesn't come out, but when we slow down and understand, compassion rises. Mindfulness also brings independence because we all know we're connected, and mindfulness helps us to realize that we are all connected. We are all cells in God's body, as someone once said, and it's true because we're not separate from each other. It stands to reason then, if we get compassion rising in each other and ourselves, it will have a knock on effect and the empathy and our essential natures. We're all interdependent, and if the corona pandemic proved one thing, is that we're all connected. How else did we manage to spread a virus around the world without being in touch and contact with one another? We were all germ taxis in body and one collective consciousness in mind and soul. The virus did not see in terms of race or status, countries or boundaries. We were all susceptible. We were very much connected when we cultivate compassion. It helps us to understand our essential nature. It helps us to learn to welcome all of our experiences with compassion, even the ones in the past which are seemingly unforgivable. Everyone can learn, grow, and transform through cultivating loving kindness, empathy and compassion. When we're holding ourselves and our experiences with compassion and empathy, we can really make a difference to our lives. We need to be present in our hearts for ourselves and for others. There's a very light hearted saying that I came across I would like to share with you. If you can sit quietly after difficult news, if after financial down turn you remain perfectly calm, if you can see your neighbours travel to fantastic places without the twinge of the LSE, if you could happily eat what is ever on your plate, if you can sleep after a busy day without a drink or a pill, if you can always find contentment wherever you are, then you're most probably a dog. That's guy by a gentleman called Jack Cornfield. He says, I love that and I think it's quite funny. It's true, we can strive to hold ourselves in all those unconditional habits and compassion because then we all stand a chance of growing and transforming through our experiences and then we go into the multi-meditation. So what I'm trying to say is that if we can hold ourselves with more compassion, if we can hold ourselves with more unoperness and we can hold ourselves being more empathetic to ourselves, not beating ourselves up or doing the things. If things don't go right today, that we don't throw ourselves away. If you don't feel as if you're progressing as much as you perceive you should be, well just be kind to yourself, but try to make those small things in the day because what we practice is what we grow. So if we're going to be sitting there all day worrying about fear or past trauma or whatever the scenario is, we're going to cultivate and grow those feelings. We're going to grow those emotions. If we're sitting there thinking, how's this going to work out? What am I going to do here? How can I do this? And we just get ourselves into this complete state of catastrophe living, just catastrophizing everything that we've got in our lives. And the reality is nine times out of ten, it's nowhere near as bad as when you thought. And I used to always remember as a kid, you know, your mum would say like, you've got to be back for six o'clock for tea. And he'd be like, right, okay. And then you'd be playing football and then you've got the woods or you'd do something. You didn't have a phone. You didn't have a watch. You were just like trying to work it out in your head. And then when you're running home, you'd say to somebody, have you got a time mate? And you'd say, yeah, yeah, it's quarter to eight. I go, what? It's quarter to eight. She's going to kill me. You know, she'd have had the surge party out. There's going to be people with torches walking around trying to find me and helicopters. And she's going to go berserk. And she's going to go crazy. I'm going to be banned for a week. I'm going to have to stay in my bedroom. And bedrooms in those days, they had a bed. That was it. You know, it was just, and I walk in the door and she said, I love driven. I stay, sit down and have a tea. But that journey home, that whole walking down the street, you know, she'd hung drawn and courted me. She, you know, she'd done everything. I was in a right state. I walk through the front door and she says, sit down, tea's ready. And you're like, and we do a lot of that, don't we? We do a lot of that catastrophizing. We, we think the things the worst, you know, if somebody doesn't phone you or somebody, you know, somebody hasn't called you for a while or something, you know, what have I said to them? Have I said something to upset them? Have I let them down? Oh my God, yeah, I remember. Now, I was there and I should have said something and I didn't say something. And oh, I've messed this up now. And we just go off on this thing. And then your phone rings as your friend. Sorry, I haven't called. Been really busy. I thought it was something I said. Why would it be something you said? Well, okay. And that's, and that's what we do to ourselves, consistently do to ourselves. Yeah. So it's about giving yourself some more compassion. It's about being kinder to yourself. It's about, it's about not always thinking the worst. It's about you giving yourself a break, giving yourself a day off, giving yourself the chance to, to move forward. You know, we can't always, every day make huge strides. And I find, I find that I'm doing it more now. I don't know as just because I am getting older, but I find making lists for me works. I find if there's things I want to do throughout the week, I make a list and I, and I sort of check myself off. But if I don't get through as much in the list in one day, I don't then go nuts to myself anymore. I used to be like, oh, why haven't you done that? Come on. You, you know, and I sort of sit for another two hours, but I don't know. I just say why don't do it tomorrow? You know, and I think that's, that's, we now have that bit more compassion in yourselves. You know, for me, if something's not right, I stop now. Like the desk I'm on here is, I bought a desk that is a standup desk. So my watch tells me to stand up now. So I press a button and it goes and I stand up and I work and then after 20 minutes, I sit back down again. And as you know, I'm absolutely useless at DIY, but I was determined to put this thing together. Okay. And you know, you're at that point at some stage where you've got 15 screws left in your hand and you can't find anywhere to put them. And you're thinking, I've done this wrong. Have I got this on back to front? How I got it upside down? How am I going to do this? And I can feel myself. So all I do is I put the screws down and went, it'll still be here in the morning. I'll come back in the morning and I'll have a go again. And I did. But if I, if you would have asked me a couple of years ago, I would have been like, what's this? This is rubbish. I can't do this is that blood. No chance. You know, and I was just wound myself up trying to put this bloody desk together. But now I just go, okay, 15 screws over. I'll come and work that out in the morning. Right. Okay. I'm going to give myself a break. Yeah. But not be, not be detrimental to yourself. But then when you actually do put it together and touch wood, it does work. Okay. So when you do put it together, it's like such an achievement. And I'm so proud of like me putting this desk together. Because it's not me. I can't do these things. But I just gave myself some compassion. I gave myself some empathy. I took my time. I was very mindful about doing it. Oh, you know, I, you know, okay, I might have thrown the screwdriver once, but it was only once. Okay. It would have been four or five times previously. No, but that's progress, isn't it? You know, and how many of those, you know, how many desk moments have you had over the last two or three weeks where, you know, things haven't quite gone your way or, you know, metaphorically speaking, something in your life leaves you with 15 screws in your hand. You know, when you think, what am I going to do with all of this? And, and, and just be kind to yourself. Yeah. Just be kind to yourself. I think that's important. You know, I think you can really make a big difference to you and yourself. I had a long conversation yesterday with my sister-in-law who's never, ever compassionate to herself. And, you know, she's doing this job that is absolutely just breaking her. And I said, you've got to give it up. What am I going to do? I said, who knows? Well, you can tell me. No, I'm not going to tell you. I said, you know, you can work out yourself, but I can tell you something. If, if you're doing something that gets you into this state, stop. Not worth it. Not worth it. Not worth it whatsoever. Because ultimately, you are you and you're vitally important. And I can guarantee you that if anything happened to you in that job, they would stick an advert in the newspaper within seven days. Okay. In a, in an, in an, in an happy. Now, Julian's gone. Oh, that's a shame. He's a really nice guy. Who's coming next then? Julian who? Have you met the new guy, Dave? He's fantastic. He's much better than what was that guy's name? You know, it's just like, and that's, that's how this world works. You know? So, so be kind to yourself. Give yourself some compassion. Give yourself some love. Give yourself some time to, to be kind to yourself. So whatever you're doing today, just try and be kind to yourself and don't throw yourself away. And if you want to make some small steps, make some small steps. But if it doesn't go according to plan, do you know what? There's always tomorrow. Yeah. And that would never go to them. Hope that makes sense. Any questions? No? My observations? Good. Okay. Well, let's go into the mountain meditation then. I'm going to pop my camera off. I'm going to have this funky new arm that allows the mic to come closer. And as always with all of the meditations, just right at the beginning, we're going to find ourselves to become comfortable. Begin by sitting in your chair, just becoming comfortable, relaxed. Just giving yourself a few moments. So sensing into the support you have from the chair, maybe the cushion or whatever it is, if you're laying down the mattress, but pay attention to the actual sensations of the contact and find yourself that comfortable position of stability and poise. Your upper body may be balanced over your hips and your shoulders in a comfortable but alert position. Maybe you want to pop your hands on your lap or your knees and just keep them stable and relaxed. Just sense how when you check in with yourself, how your body feels, just feeling into your feet, your legs, your hips, your lower and your upper body, your arms, your shoulders, just sense and feel like or parts of your body. But then bring awareness to your breath, the actual physical sensations, feeling each breath as it comes in and as it goes out. Letting the breath be just as it is without trying to change or regulate it in any way. Allowing it to flow easily and naturally within its own rhythm and pace. Knowing that you're breathing perfectly right now, nothing for you to do except allowing the body to be still and sitting with a sense of dignity, a sense of resolve, a sense of being completely whole in this very moment with your posture reflected in this sense of wholeness. And as you sit here, you can let any image form in your mind's eye, as we say spiritually, your third eye in between your eyebrows. But I want you to envisage the most magnificent or beautiful mountain that you've ever seen or could imagine. Bring this mountain to your mind, letting it gradually come into greater focus. And even if you can't see it, you may sense it, whatever it is, just allow it to happen, feeling its overall shape, its lofty peaks, its highs in the sky, the large bases rooted into the bedrock of the Earth's crust, its steep and gently sloping sides, a beautiful stunning with landscapes and trees. Just notice how big this mountain is, how solid it is. Perhaps your mountain has a snow blanket on the top and trees reaching down to the base of these rugged granite sites. There may be streams, waterfalls, cascading down the slopes, there may be one peak or a series of peaks. Observe it, notice it, just see the qualities of this wonderful mountain. And when you feel ready, if you can bring the mountain into your own body, sense and bring it into you, bring it into your own body sitting here so that your body and your mountain, your mind's eye, just become one, so that you can sit here together, you can share in the sheer size and the stillness of this magic, majestic mountain. You become the mountain, you're grounded in a sitting posture, your head becomes the lofty peak supported by the rest of your body, and you're affording a beautiful panoramic view, your shoulders and arms of the sides of the mountain, your buttocks and your legs of the solid base, you're rooted to your cushion of your chair, an experience in your body, a sense of upliftment from the deep within of your pelvis and your spine with either breath as you continue sitting, becoming a little more, a breathing mountain, alive and vital, yet unwavering in the stillness that's around you. You are beyond words and thoughts, a centred, grounded, moving presence as you sit here, and just become aware of the fact that the sun travels across the sky, the light and the shadows and the colors are changing virtually moment by moment in the mountain stillness, the surface, teams with life and activity, streams, melting snow, waterfalls, plants and wildlife as the mountain sits, seeing and feeling how night follows day and day follows night, the bright warming sun followed by the coolness of the night sky, the star studded, beautiful, the gradual dawning of a new day and although it's as the sun rises, the moment just, the mountain just sits, experiencing change in every moment, constantly changing, it's always just being itself, it remains still as the seasons flow into one another and the weather changes moment by moment and day by day, calmness abides all change and in the summer there's no snow on the mountain except perhaps for the very peaks or the cracks shielded from the direct sunlight, in the autumn the mountain may wear a coat of brilliant fire colors in a winter blanket and maybe there's snow and ice, in any season it may find itself at times shrouded in clouds or fog or pelted by freezing rain, people may come to see the mountain and comment how beautiful it is but none of this really matters to the mountain, it remains at all times it's essential, compassionate self, clouds may come and clouds may go, the mountain's magnificence and beauty are not changed one bit by whether people see it or not, seen or unseen in sun or clouds, broil in a frigid day or night it's just sitting there being it's compassionate self, at times it's visited by violent storms buffeted by snow and rain the winds of unthinkable magnitude, through it all the mountain sits spring comes trees leaves flowers bloom birds sing the trees once again streams overflow with waters of the melting stone but through it all the mountain continues to sit and moved by weather by what happens on its surface by the world of appearances remaining it's essential truth it's self-truth the seasons change the weather changes the activities ebb and flow in on its surface in the same way as we sit in meditations we can learn to experience the mountain we can embody the same central unwavering stillness and glumlessness in the face of everything that changes in our lives over seconds over hours over years in our lives and in malmeditation practice we can experience the constantly changing nature of our mind and body in the outer world we have our own periods of light and darkness activity and inactivity our moments of color and moments of drabness it's true that we experience storms of variety and intensity and violence in the outer world our own minds and bodies are buffeted by high winds by cold and by rain we may endure periods of darkness and pain as well as in the moments of joy upliftment even our appearance consistently changes experiencing a weather of our own but by coming the mountain in our meditation practice we can link up with the strength and stability and to adopt this for our very own we can use these energies to support our energy to encounter each moment with mindfulness with compassion with empathy and clarity it may help us to see our thoughts and feelings our preoccupations our emotional storms and crisis even the things that happen to us are very much like the weather on the mountain but we tend to take it personally but its strongest characteristic is its impersonality everything is impersonal the weather of our lives is not ignored or denied it's to be encountered to be honored to be felt known for what it is held in awareness and holding this way we can come to a deeper silence and stillness with wisdom we hold it and our experience with compassion with empathy we live life in kindness mountains have this and much more to teach us we just need to let it in so if you find you resonate in some way with the strength and stability of the mountain you're sitting in maybe it's helpful to use this from time to time in your meditation practice to remind you of what it means to sit mindfully but resolved with wakefulness in true stillness so in the moments that now remain we continue to sustain the mountain meditation in our own silence moment by moment feeling the strength and the stability bringing that courage and that strength and stability and compassion into your life it too shall pass it too shall pass just feel that wholeness as you take a breath breath in feel the calmness the stillness the strength the resolve the compassion and the love and take that into your day take that into everything that you do lean into the fact that you are enough lean into the fact that the things that have happened in the past allow you to be the person you are today kind caring compassionate loving trusting and truthful just like the mountain when you're ready you can take a nice deep breath in with your fingers come back into the room so I think the key to that and I wrote that in here because it talks to us about the mountain as being a solid structure with all these things changing around it but it continues being the mountain this is where the real strength lies and we can be that mountain we can have all of these things happen around us but we just need to stay strong and know that everything passes experience is good or bad we can hold them with compassion with empathy and loving kindness in this way we can live moment by moment we can retrain our brain to think differently we can raise our happiness bar and more importantly we can be our true selves our true essence we can live the life that we meant to live with clarity and purpose and I think that is important I think that being that solid mountain and allowing things to come and go and raise and fall and and not to you know beat ourselves up or run away down a pigeon hole just to you know because of the way our thoughts are our thoughts are just thoughts they may feel real but they're very rarely true and if we can see them as thoughts and label them as thoughts because when we fire a thought it generally fires an emotion so if we can see that thought as being a thought then the emotions really are the reaction to those thoughts and we can just be in that space without catastrophizing or running down roads that get us into a right mucking fuddle as somebody once said so I hope you enjoyed today's mindfulness Monday it's nice and short but very sweet and just think about how you can just allow some of these things just to pass and don't don't get caught into it you know there's a lot of things that I listen to now and you know you hear people talking and I think I'm not getting involved in that it's too low vibrational too tilt at too he said she said she said he said no not for me and just try and keep your vibration high and have a wonderful day whatever you're doing and god bless you and I'll see you on Thursday take care thank you bye