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Pause, Breathe, Relax, Smile…

I came across this simple grounding technique after following a live email series, led by Brian Draper.

It’s been niggling me for a few months, and so I’ve put together the quick visual above.

Pause, Breathe, Relax, Smile…
Compiled by Jules P Richards. Visuals: mitchmartinez.com and vidsplay.com

PBRSPause, Breathe, Relax, Smile – It’s a simple but powerful mantra, that we might use to refocus on our place in things, and notice silences underneath the noise.

(i) Pause…Whatever you are doing, in your head… pause… pause… truly pause…

(ii) Breathe… notice your breathing… feel yourself breathing… (close your eyes and feel…)

(iii) Relax… relax your breathing… relax your muscles… feel your breathing – you are alive!

(iv) Smile…

It’s a smile thing but can be quite powerful.

The layers of our lives are underpinned by silence, sometimes uneasy silence; tense, expectant, anxious, deep, joyful or supreme silence. Silences beyond language; beyond bustle and busy, beyond the habits and tasks, beyond the joy and sorrow, beyond the urge to impress or the impulse to fear.

Communication implies sound. Communion might be something else. Perhaps we can notice how we might commune with other people, as well as merely communicating with them. We might communicate in a way that goes far beyond speaking. Intuition, intimacy, presence… communion.

Noticing ‘our place’ among things is not easy; the bustle and busy, the habits and tasks, and the joy and sorrow around us, can often overwhelm. The distractions of the immediate digital and omniwise infotainment media can be hard to tame. The mechanisms of automation and individualism are not a great help.

How we ‘commune’ with our world can be far more alive than the constant, communicative chatter of our culture might pretend. We’re reminded that ‘life’ at it’s simplest and quietest can be so rich and full that it is almost unspeakable. “Cease striving and know…”

The songwriter writes “A wise person draws from the well within,” Proverbs 20

 

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Shhhh!

Notice Word CloudIn January, without much reasoning, I flippantly decided that my ‘one word’ for 2016 might be ‘notice’.

Over the period of 40 days leading up to the festival of Easter, where possible, I’ve been trying to ‘notice’ things around and within me a tad more.  I’ve been following a live email series, led by Brian Draper. (The same Brian Draper from Radio 4’s TFTD). Many of my recent thoughts have come from steers, nudges, and nuggets of insight from Brian’s ponderings.

The series is reminding me that noticing ‘our place’ among things is not easy; the bustle and busy, the habits and tasks, and the joy and sorrow around us, can often overwhelm. The distractions of the immediate digital and omniwise infotainment media can be hard to tame. The mechanisms of automation and individualism are not a great help.

How we ‘commune’ with our world can be far more alive than the constant, communicative chatter of our culture might pretend. We’re reminded that ‘life’ at it’s simplest and quietest can be so rich and full that it is almost unspeakable. “Cease striving and know…”

We’re reminded that the silences underneath the layered tracks in our lives are often what gives life meaning, worth and value.

Brian’s Radio 4 TFTD reminds us of the significance of the ‘producer’; in this case thoughts on Brian Epstein’s role in the success of The Beatles. The fifth Beatle, unseen but crucial to the product, the creation, the offering – the Producer.

PBRSPause, Breathe, Relax, Smile – It’s a simple but powerful mantra that we might use to refocus on our place in things, and notice silences underneath the noise. Perhaps we may even notice a producer at work.

Communication implies sound. Communion might be something else. Perhaps we can notice how we might commune with other people, as well as merely communicating with them. We might communicate in a way that goes far beyond speaking. Intuition, intimacy, presence… communion. The role of producer may know ways far beyond our own constant, communicative chatter…  Simple ways ‘so rich and full’ perhaps unspeakable.

The layers of our lives are underpinned by silence, sometimes uneasy silence; tense, expectant, anxious, deep, joyful or supreme silence.  Silences beyond language; beyond bustle and busy, beyond the habits and tasks, beyond the joy and sorrow, beyond the urge to impress or the impulse to fear.

The songwriter writes “A wise person draws from the {silent?} well within,” Proverbs 20

Perhaps to reach ‘a well within’, we need to notice our place, and the glory and power of the simplest foundational silences that our producer lays down.

Communion with our place in things.
Communion with our producer.
Noticing silences underpinning company.
The silence behind noise.

Then the noise might become beautiful.

Heard sounds are sweet, perhaps those unheard are sweeter.

SystonStrip

 

 

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The art of relaxation…

…yawn!  Ahgh… here he goes again, yadda yadda ‘mindfulness’ yadda…

“a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations…”
I know mindfulness is the buzz-thing at the moment, you can’t go anywhere without hearing about the wonders of McMindfulness. And, yes it’s right to be cautious because there’s a lot of shallow pap written about it.  But, in essence the ideas and the practices are worth exploring.

True awareness is NOT an easy thing to achieve.  But having a mindful ambition is a great start; ‘being’ with a ‘mindful’ approach. Truly mindful of ‘yourself’, truly mindful of ‘the space you inhabit’, truly mindful of ‘what you share’, truly mindful of the ‘people you meet’, and truly mindful of the ‘stuff’ that you encounter!  …stop, relax, breath.

We are surrounded by ‘stuff’.

Stuff picks you up and you find yourself pulled by the “gotta get/do/be…” that surrounds us.  Loud opinion, passion, aggressive obstacles, beauty, disregard, gossip, music, art, popular consumption, empty promises, amplified surface, hidden depths, bling, gestures, advertising, glum faces, abstract expressions, connection, happyville, disconnection… and creme eggs! (and the like)

Yes, “drive” is what gets things done, but a mindful drive might be more fruitful.

Perhaps Solomon said it first “diligence leads to riches as surely as haste leads to poverty” .

The beat of your heart – we are all too often picked up be a pseudo heartbeat, a pulse of the new. Rediscover your heart beat! …an ongoing, daily, or even hourly practice

RelaxKidsWhere your treasure is there is your heart also…

But the thing I wanted to share here is a book that I came across recently (thanks to Brian).

As you know AJ gets morning migraines fortnightly and we considered that the chemical imbalance might be mixed with a busyness, anxiety, eagerness thing. She’s like me and is often keen (anxious) to do, please, get done and achieve – this can become overwhelming without space and time-out. Both A and P enjoy these stories and visualisations and after a reading a the effect is notable.

Relax Kids: Aladdin’s Magic Carpet by Marneta Viegas

It’s a book of one-page relaxing visualisations (or ‘meditations’ if you want to get hippy) for kids. It’s specially written for children to help them explore and develop creativity and their personal imaginations. The visualisation stories are ideal for calming down at bedtime, but can be used at anytime of day. Designed to be read slowly to the kids, they are based on familiar tales, such as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins or Treasure Island, etc. The themes are designed to help children in everyday life with and revolve around affirmations of protection, peace, freedom, strength, difference, confidence etc.

If you fancy stopping, relaxing and breathing… give it an ‘awareful’ try!

Beware… ideally mindfulness might lead to soulfulness.