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Sunday, October 19, 2008

8 Minutes of Calm…

I’m on week 4 of the 8 week program outlined in 8 Minute Meditation, and I must say I’m making progress. The concept of “catch and release” is finally starting to take hold, so is the ability to be in the moment but neutralize the emotional baggage that sometimes comes along with it.

I’m not ready to say the program works, as it’s merely the first step in the journey, but here, at the midpoint, I’m finally starting to feel like some progress has been made.

The “catch and release” concept is great – when your mind begins to wander during meditation, acknowledge what’s going on and release the thought. During week four, the author wants you to allow your thoughts then label them “past” or “present”. It’s amazing how easy it is to let the thought go once it’s been labeled. Very cool indeed.

There are two readers of this blog that I know of who are also planning to work through this program…if you have, drop a line in the comments and let me know how you’re doing with it!

Update: I’m using the CD companion…and while at first I thought it was much ado about nothing, two things have happened. First, it replaces the need for a timer and second, the somewhat disruptive comments from the author really do seem to do their magic and reign me back in when I’ve forgotten what I’m doing as a thought stream has taken over. And over time, I’ve learned to zone over his comments when they’re not needed.

4 comments:

gardenlore said...

i haven't started yet. thanks for the reminder. maybe i'll give the first 8 minutes a go tonight. :)

Clifford said...

Yeah! Love to hear how it goes for you... hope you manage to squeeze it in!

syzygy13 said...

ditto what "layer" said - i haven't started yet either. i've read a little bit of it. amusingly, i've got about 8 minutes of vid with me reading portions of it, dramatically (i was supposed to have a vid job at this one spot; it didn't pan out, but i shot me instead, just so i'd have reference material).

thanks for the boost, and i'll definitely let you know how it goes. ;)

Clifford said...

@SynergyBoy -- join us in the mindfulness. The best thing about the program is that it takes 8 minutes, which doesn't give you an out for not having time to do it...or, it shouldn't. I pulled out for a week for that very reason...should be a week further ahead than I am...starting week five this morning...

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This is me and one of my two cats. His name is Cougar, and he’s an F1 Chausie. A chausie is a new breed of cat under development. Chausies are the result of a cross between a domestic cat (in Cougar’s case, a Bengal) and a jungle cat (Felis Chaus). Cougar’s mom is 8 pounds and his father is a 30-pound jungle cat. He’s about 16 pounds, super intelligent, spirited, and toilet trained. A writer without a cat (or two) is not to be trusted.