Gene Williams

Hello everyone, @Paige PIlege, @Alshattuck40, @Emma , and @Gillian Sanger, I really appreciate your insight and sharing here. Regards, Gene

Hi @James Karrel , I don't know how I missed your post. I hope you are still doing well with your 100 day challenge. Thanks for sharing this. I plan to make this my practice today. Thank you @Paige PIlege, I need some motivation today and your approach reminded me about the power of intention. I will follow your lead and focus on a couple of priority projects and something fun. May you have a productive day today!! Regards Gene

Welcome Allen, Nice to meet you and I look forward to following you in your posts. Regards, Gene

Thanks for the book recommendation @Gillian Sanger. I want to learn more about Mindful Eating. I know that one of my challenges is reaching for "comfort food" which is not a healthy way of managing emotions: often when I am feeling tired.

Hi @yogawithpriyanka, Thank you for the invitation but I can't commit the time to this and don't think I am qualified to teach yoga/meditation. I am very much a student and still learning. I wish you all the best. Kind Regards, Gene

Good morning, Your mini vacation sounds lovley @Gillian Evans. This weekend, I took Friday and Monday off work and had a nice long weekend. I spent a day visiting a lovely cottage. Here was the view. @Paige PIlegeI am also continuing to read Tara Brock's book, Radical Acceptance. Wishing you all the best with your business.

Thank you @yogawithpriyanka, This is a beautiful practice. I will focus on this practice today. Kind Regards, Gene

Hello @Faune, This is my challenge as well. When political leaders abuse their power and hurt people, I do feel strong aversion. When you have time, I suggest reading this thread because dealing with this kind of aversion was a major theme: Kind Regards, Gene

Day 28: Positive Future Write for 3 full minutes for each journaling prompt below. Once you’ve finished, take a few minutes to reread what you wrote and reflect. Journaling Prompts: 1. What I’ve learned from this 28-day challenge is… Mindfulness is a deliberate practice that has to be applied every day. I found that it is quite easy to "forget" about being mindful and get caught up in an unconscious stream of thoughts. In particular, I found that when I become extremely busy with a lot of project deadlines, hours can pass by without being mindful. When I do remember to be mindful, I become aware of the thoughts, feelings and emotions and they often feel like an avalanche. 2. What surprised me is… Some moments of mindfulness where everything appears to be bright, shiny, or acute. I am not sure if this is what "bliss" feels like and I am not even sure if this is an illusion. These moments sometimes feel pleasant, but I am not sure if they are truly real. What is behind the pleasant experience? Perhaps they are real if I am not clinging to them? Each moment of mindfulness is what it is, and I need to accept it and not expect to reproduce the experience. 3. What I feel committed to is… Finding ways to continue to be deliberate about being mindful each and every day. That is my intention, but I am also aware that when I become extremely busy, I lose my motivation to be mindful. This is when the practice is needed the most.

Day 26: Remembering Motivation Integrated Practice: Write for 2 full minutes for each journaling prompt below. Once you’ve finished, take a minute to reread what you wrote and reflect. Journaling Prompts: 1. An intention I'd like to hold for myself is... To remember to be kind to myself today. I tend to forget that it is ok to say I allow what is happening. I am becoming aware of the fact that much of my mental and emotional suffering occurs because of the constant states of aversion I experience. I am not always aware of how this state creates a dark cloud which causes suffering. 2. Things I can let go of are… Let go of aversion to people, places and things.

Day 25: Focused Attention & Open Awareness Integrated Practice: At your next meal, practice mindful eating. Bring an open awareness mindset to this practice; see how much of the experience you can be present to including the flavors and textures in the food, the sounds occurring around you and as you eat, the colors and smells, etc. Reflection Questions: Q.) In what ways did the mindful eating practice affect your experience of eating? I was aware of the texture and smell of the food. I was also more aware of the person I was having dinner with and felt more present during the conversation. In addition, I became more aware of wanting to continue with my stream of thinking about what I had to do after breakfast and shifted my awareness back to practicing being aware of my meal. Q.) How can you apply this type of practice to other areas of your life? This type of practice can be used whenever I am completing any task. I could apply this to work projects to focus on the task at hand instead of engaging in the thoughts and emotions I often relate to getting the work done (i.e. the story line about deadlines, impact of conversations, not getting things done, too much work to do etc.).

Hello @Joseph, I can really identify with what you are saying. My background is in social work and when I began my career, this was also my experience. I remember working with people who were in conflict with the law. I also had to check my values, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and assumptions. One strong memory that has stayed with me for many years is a pearl of wisdom from an experienced community worker who often said, "Just because you made a mistake, it does not mean you are a mistake". When I think about this statement, I often think about the powerful role that stigma has in shaping peoples lives. We need helpers and providers who work in our systems to take the time to check their values, assumptions, and beliefs because people who work in the helping profession have an important role to play to help people to understand that they are not mistakes and they matter! I see mindfulness as a pathway to bring this kind of awareness. Thank you for sharing your journey. Kind Regards, Gene

Thank you for this post @Rachel, I have been hyper busy with work this past week. I appreciate the reminder keep my feet on the floor, step near a window, take a deep breath and know where I am right now.... and everything else is just temporarily visiting. This will be my practice for today. Many thanks! Gene

Hi @Jo L, I must be weired as well because I do exactly the same thing!!

Hello @Ali Zien, This sounds like it was a powerful experience for you. I think you need to give yourself credit for recognizing, in the moment, that you were experiencing suffering and you became aware of these feelings in the moment. I can't say that this mental suffering really goes away. I am learning that the state of suffering is a part of life and for me, the best way to cope is to accept that it is there. Tara Brach talks about just accepting and allowing the experience to be there. I highly recommend reading "Radical Acceptance". We have started a book club on this site if you are interested. I have found that we can experience a sense of peace and equanimity when we stop mentally fighting painful thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The idea is not to try to "fix" anything. This makes life more manageable. Another good book that offers this perspective is Pema Chodron’s book, "When Things Fall Apart" https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/07/17/when-things-fall-apart-pema-chodron/ Good for you my friend for being able to step out of this cycle to break the pattern. This is a sign that your inner wisdom is taking root and you are being kind to yourself in the midst of experiencing difficult emotions. Kind Regards, Gene

Day 24: Leading With Purpose Journaling Prompts: 1. The contributions I most want to make to the world are … I want to help people to be the best that they can possibly be in life. I want to be able to support my coworkers to be effective in their work so that our team can be effective in helping people improve the quality of their lives. It is my intention to do work that helps people to secure the necessities of life: food, clothing, shelter, employment, and access to essential services. I want to be an effective leader that leads a team of people who can help make this happen. 2. Some ideas I have for sharing this with others around me are … I want to articulate this mission and vision with passion and intensity so that I can inspire others and bring out the best in them to help achieve this vision. I do this by playing to people's strengths and inspiring them to achieve greatness in their own lives for the benefit of others. I continue to remind others of the mission and purpose of our work to improve the people’s quality of life. I will continue to remind the team I work with about the importance of the work that we do: to promote fairness, justice, social equality, and inclusion. I want to be that conductor in a choir that motivates others to become excited about achieving social justice for all by building healthy communities.

Welcome @fdsnoble, I look forward to getting to know you better. Regards, Gene

Day 23: More Loving Kindness Reflection Question: Q) What impact does this have on the rest of your day? I was able to move through my day and focus on my main priority project with some peace and equanimity. I found myself experiencing some pleasure completing this task. I had previously felt a sense of foreboding and aversion to this project. I was able to focus on this one task without leaning into the past or the future in terms of thinking all kinds of negative what if scenarios. I believe this occurred because I started my day with a loving kindness practice: Sending loving kindness to me, my friends, my family, and co-workers.

Hi @Ali Zien, These are great questions. I really appreciate Tony Robbins. I have followed his Personal Power program in the past and like his approaches. Many thanks for sharing this. Regards, Gene

Day 22: Focused Attention / Concentration Integrated Practice: Pick a short task you need to do today, (e.g. writing an email, washing the dishes). During the task, practice focusing all of your attention on the task and notice when your attention wanders, gently bringing it back to the task at hand. Reflection Question: Q) How does this shift the experience of doing the task? During a busy day, I was able to shift the experience of walking which allowed me to see below the surface of my emotional reaction to the day's events. I had a moment of clarity which felt beautiful. I said to myself, it is ok, I allow this. I allow all of it. When this occurred, I felt like I immediately stopped struggling against a wave of negativity and mild anxiety I had experienced all day. I stopped fighting and immediately accepted my experience. Then everything around me became bright, I felt stillness and experienced acute awareness of my surroundings.