Author: kindermind

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Freedom

Freedom lies in going back to our pure, original being, unshackled by automatic thoughts, fleeting emotions, and physical sensations. They are after all just that – thoughts, emotions and sensations, not us, not our future.

Staying at peace, happy or steady regardless of circumstances empowers us to make choices based on our true values and intentions rather than out of fear and habitual patterns. We live life according to our rules, our voice. 

Freedom, by Langston Hughes

Freedom will not come
Today, this year
            Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right
As the other fellow has
            To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.
            Freedom
            Is a strong seed
            Planted
            In a great need.
            I live here, too.
            I want my freedom
            Just as you.   

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Lynda B, Unsplash

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Losing The Ego

Reflecting on the ego—the part of us that is frequently concerned with self-image, status, and personal importance. Recognizing that the ego is not inherently good or bad. It is simply a part of our human experience while acknowledging that the fixation with it can also lead us down a path of self-doubt, anxiety, and desire to seek validation and control. This is a meditation practice of softening the edges of unpleasant feelings so that we can hold our desires with more lightness, to recognise that any unpleasantness is not the whole of you, and allow ease to fill your being. Strength and confidence comes from within, not from external validation.

Whenever the ego emerges, allow ease and lightness to enter like how Hengstler writes it.

Ego, Andrew Hengstler

My eyes are the ocean

My breath carries the wind

My palm holds the word

My essence is the light

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Paul Hanaoka, Unsplash

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New Beginning

It is righteously easy to fall into the trap of automatic judgment that could bring us down an unhelpful path. In practicing mindfulness, the encouragement is to embrace a beginner’s mind, approaching each moment, especially those that trigger us to be on survival mode, with curiosity and openness. When we drop pre-conceived notions and assumptions, we see things as they are, not as we expect them to be. This heightened awareness potentially enriches our experience of and connection to the present moment, opening ourselves up to see more possibilities. This new habit also helps us to respond to challenges with more calmness and clarity. Cultivating a beginner’s mind is not about forgetting what we know but about holding our experiences lightly and allowing other possibilities.

For A New Beginning (extract), John O’Donahue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back,

learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Max Ogden, Unsplash

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Watching Thoughts, Watching TV

Often, we find ourselves entangled in the drama of our thoughts, stuck in a loop, and therefore feeling the emotional sting. To create some distance, try this practice of watching thoughts like a movie on a TV screen. Simply observing them like a neutral party without getting drawn in. Over time, we start to embrace that thoughts are just slide shows, pictures in a borrowed book, like what Misuzu Kaneko writes in her poetry. She lived almost more than 100 years ago yet her wisdom remains timeless.

Beautiful Town, by Misuzu Kaneko

Suddenly, I recall that town—
the red rooftops along the river bank;

and then, on the waters of that broad blue river
a white sail—quietly, quietly moving;

and on the grass of the riverbank
a young man, an artist
idly staring at the water.

And I? What was I doing?
When I think I can’t remember,
I realize it was all a picture in a borrowed book.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Catherine Heath, Unsplash

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Stay

The ability to stay, to persist, to stay resilient can be trained through mindfulness training. Instead of giving up when we experience the first impulse to do so, we give ourselves permission to just stay and allow whatever that arises.

Always Stay Persistent, by Ronell Warren Alman

Always stay persistent 
Continue on walking in the right path 
Let no one deter you 
Keep it moving and stay on track 
The sun will eventually shine 
Greatness is within you 
Never give up hope 
Just travel along through 

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Kate Stone Matheson, Unsplash

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Live In The Present

Too frequently, we find ourselves trapped in the confines of thoughts, rather than fully engaging with the present moment. The invitation is to step outside the boundaries of our minds and wholeheartedly embrace everything that unfolds moment-by-moment.

Your Start Dying Slowly, by Martha Medeiros

You start dying slowly
if you do not travel,
if you do not read,
if you do not listen to the sounds of life,
if you do not appreciate yourself.

You start dying slowly
When you kill your self-esteem;
When you do not let others help you.
You start dying slowly
If you become a slave of your habits,
Walking everyday on the same paths…
If you do not change your routine,
If you do not wear different colors
Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.

You start dying slowly
If you avoid to feel passion
And their turbulent emotions;
Those which make your eyes glisten
And your heart beat fast.

You start dying slowly
If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, 
or with your love,
If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,
If you do not go after a dream,
If you do not allow yourself,
At least once in your lifetime,
To run away from sensible advice.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Eric Han, Unsplash

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Habitual Reactions

Mindfulness is also about paying attention to our reactions especially the habitual ones. When a negative thought arises, what do we tend to do? Push it away, justify it, ruminate on it or just let it be. Or when the feeling of wanting to give up, do we tend to do so, or how do we try very hard to stay the course? The invitation in this practice is to stop, pause and simply notice as the first step to becoming aware what reactions serve us well or are no longer helpful.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Paul Hanaoka, Unsplash

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Dealing With Anxiety

Anxiety could creep up unexpectedly or arises when we take on too much on to our plate or can’t seem to get to the finishing line with our endless to-do list. In dealing with anxiety, we shift the attention to a part of the body that feels comfortable such as the breath, or the surface of the skin, feeling the touch of air or clothing.

I am too alone in the world, and not alone enough, by Rainer Maria Rilke (extract)

I am much too alone in this world, and not alone
    enough
to make every minute holy.
I am much too tiny in this world, and not tiny
    enough
just to lie before you like a thing, shrewd and secretive.
I don’t want to stay folded anywhere,
because where I am folded, there I am a lie.
And I want my grasp of things
true before you. I want to describe myself
like a painting that I looked at
closely for a long time,
like a saying that I finally understood,
like the pitcher I use every day,
like the face of my mother,
like a ship
that took me safely
through the wildest storm of all.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Anton Lochov, Unsplash

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Responding To Burnout

This is a practice of responding to burnout, which manifests as the feeling of exhaustion, drained and hitting our limits physically and emotionally, due to prolonged stress or lack of balance. The invitation is to slow down, honoring the present moment.

You Better Slow Down (extract), by David Weatherford

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask “How are you?”, do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
it’s like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life isn’t a race, so take it slower,
hear the music before your song is over.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Natalia Nikolaiev, Unsplash

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U-Turn & Awaken

When we find ourselves on the downward spiral of negative emotions – anger, frustration, disappointment, conflict – know that we can choose how to respond. One is to make a u-turn and come back to the breath, the body, an anchor to awaken to the present moment instead of sliding further down the path of distress.

U-turn, by Jerry Corstens

What’s empty will empty.
What’s full will refill.

What’s picked up starts rising.
What’s dropped goes downhill.

What’s broken keeps breaking.
What’s whole will repair.

What’s backwards can U-turn
Once it grows aware.

What’s given to, giveth.
What’s taken from, takes.

What’s fallen keeps falling,
Until it awakes.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Sarah J, Unsplash

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Keeping It Light

It’s easy, almost instinctive to get caught up with emotional dramas. Here is an exercise of cultivating the ability to lighten up when the brain is hijacked, when we don’t get what we want.

Island, Aldous Huxley (extract)

“It’s dark because you are trying too hard. 
Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. 
Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. 
Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them. 

So throw away your baggage and go forward. 
There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, 
trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. 
That’s why you must walk so lightly. 
Lightly my darling, 
on tiptoes and no luggage, 
not even a sponge bag, 
completely unencumbered.” 

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Jasmin Schuler, Unsplash

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Slowing Down: Acknowledging The Body

When the mind gets busy with thoughts, turning to the body offers an alternative to step out of rumination, to create more space between thoughts and actions, and to find a sense of peace and grounding.

The Body, Charles Simic

This last continent

Still to be discovered.

My hand is dreaming, is building

Its ship. For crew it takes

A pack of bones, for food

A beer-bottle full of blood.

It knows the breath that blows north.

With the breath from the west

It will sail east each night.

The scent of your body as it sleeps

Are the land-birds sighted at sea.

My touch is on the highest mast.

It cries at four in the morning

For a lantern to be lit

On the rim of the world

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Jens Herrndorff, Unsplash

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Slowing Down: Feeling Your Senses

The practice of sharpening your perception of senses, and feeling them, one by one, starting with sound, smell, taste, touch on the skin, thoughts (mental events), and sight, in any order that you wish, cultivating the ability to pay attention and to differentiate various senses rather than viewing them as one jumbled, overwhelming mess.

A List of Random Things to Remember, by Victoria Erickson

Time heals.
Mountain winds sound exactly like ocean waves.
You are worth everything now.
Walls can be destroyed.
The sun always rises (and is always beautiful).
Children know the answers.
There is music in everything.
Logic doesn’t produce magic.
Somewhere, somebody loves you.

You don’t need to choose mediocre when fire exists.
The moon orchestrates our nights and tides.
Trees can grow through rock.
Your heart expands when it’s broken.
You should do it now.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image by: Nillio Isotalo, Unsplash

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Slowing Down: Stabilising Attention

A mind free of worry, hangups and cravings allows us to go back to our true original being, one that is feels whole, at peace, joyfully curious and unencumbered. We use the breath, chest and abdomen to fill our awareness as we breath and cultivate stability and freedom.

Half Life, The Prophet, by Khalil Gibran (extract)

Do not live half a life 
and do not die a half death
If you choose silence, then be silent
When you speak, do so until you are finished 
If you accept, then express it bluntly
Do not mask it
If you refuse then be clear about it 
for an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance
Do not accept half a solution
Do not believe half truths
Do not dream half a dream
Do not fantasize about half hopes
You are a whole that exists to live a life,
not half a life.”

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Pascal Debrunner, Unsplash

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Slowing Down: On The Outbreath

The foundation of learning to slow down and cultivating mindfulness, we stabilize the attention using the breath.

Why the breath?

The breath is closest to us, and is often immediately available and without fuss.

The predictable, certain and reliable pattern of breathing, where the in-breath would be followed by a pause and the outbreath, is a stabilising factor to achieve coherence within us.

Breathing rejuvenates our cells, fuels us, is a gift that continues because to live is to breathe.

So whenever you’re down, just breathe. Whenever you feel like reaching out for the next cookie, just breathe and slow down.

In Blackwater Woods (extract), Mary Oliver

To live in this world

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends n it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Neom, Unsplash

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Slowing Down – Starting With Sitting

For most part of 2024, we’ll be focusing on slowing down in our Wednesday Pause sessions. The starting point would be to sit.

Sitting lowers our center of gravity, enabling us to feel more grounded.

Then using the outbreath, we bring the mind back to reminding ourselves to slow down, to become conscious that we’re sitting, how we’re sitting.

The invitation is to practice this whenever you have moments to pause, say when you are in the train or bus. Even when you are driving and stopping to wait for the lights to turn green, you can check in with the body, reminding yourself to slow down, to notice how you are sitting.

What would the world do with me?, by JP

Why is it

that I only sit quietly

in the morning?

Am I allowed just

one breath

of wholeness

before the barrage

of the day?

What would happen

if I claimed

all my other breaths

in the name of peace –

of saving a life?

What would the world

do with me?

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Priscilla du Preez, Unsplash

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Precision & Kindness

Cultivating focus and concentration by precisely noting what is arising within us – “thinking”, “calmness is here”, “sleepiness is here” – and to do so gently without chiding ourselves for the experiences, taking a decentered view.

A Timbered Choir (excerpt), by Wendell Berry

I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them, asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes
and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Shantanu Parcharka, Unsplash

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I Carry Your Burden

A meditation inspired by Tonglen, a practice by Tibetan Buddhists about giving and taking, or sending and receiving to awaken compassion for humanity. In generously sharing our merits, we find space for joy and peace and break down barriers with others.

Belonging, by John O’Donohue

May you listen to your longing to be free
May the frames of your belonging be generous enough for your dreams. May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering in your heart May you find a harmony between your soul and your life
May the sanctuary of your soul never be haunted
May you know the eternal longing that lives at the heart of time May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within
May you never place walls between the light and yourself
May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to gather you Mind you and embrace you in belonging.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Willian Justen de Vasconcellos, Unsplash

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Beginner’s Mind

A beginner’s mind, imbued by kind curiosity instead of judgment, frees us of past assumptions and worries about the future, enabling us to stay in the present moment with a sense of calm and ease.

Wonder, by Misuzu Kaneko

I wonder why the rain that falls from black clouds shines like silver.

I wonder why the silkworm that eats green mulberry leaves is so white.

I wonder why the moonflower that no one tends to bloom on its own.

I wonder why everyone I ask about these things laughs and says, “That’s just how it is.”

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Europeana Wiad, Unsplash

Also viewable on https://youtu.be/MhyUdv60N-I

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Slowing Down

Too often, we’re rushing from one idea, task, place to another. This is an invitation to just live – slowing down, and allowing the mind and body to unpack what is going on and process emotions and sensations. Inspired by Thich That Hahn’s poetry Drink Your Tea.

Drink your tea slowly and reverently,
as if it is the axis 
on which the world earth revolves 
– slowly, evenly, without 
rushing toward the future;
Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Alexander London