MIND-BODY-SPIRIT
Mindfulness in Everyday Life ...continued from page 25
ities. Ultimately, when our awareness is stable and strong, we can be fully and thoroughly present for every moment of our precious lives. ©2021 Patricia J. Ullman. This article is an excerpt fromPatricia’s upcoming book, Entering the Mainstream: A Mindfulness Guide for Everyone . You can also read more about mindfulness meditation and related topics in Eight Steps to an Authentic Life: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times by Patricia Ullman, available on amazon.com, and ar - ticles and blog postings on her website: www.PeaceOfOurMinds.org. The creation of a modern CCC is President Biden’s bold - est effort towards creating a “unified national response to cli - mate change” and one that serves “to mobilize the next gener - ation of conservation and resilience workers and maximize the creation of accessible training opportunities and good jobs," by al- lowing for equal opportunity and inclusion more accurately reflect - ing the diverse nature of today’s population and potential workforce. Adapted and excerpted from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report originally prepared May 3, 2021, by Mark K. DeSan- tis, atural Resources Policy Analyst, available at https://crsreports. congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN11654. Biden Administration Climate Corps... ...continued from page 24
in your responses, rather than only habitual, conditioned reactions. The well-known holocaust survivor and neurologist Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning , said: “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” This takes strength, because the energies of our lives are strong and often unsettling. The more we practice being in the bril- liant space that lies outside of our familiar nest of thoughts, the more thoroughly and effectively we can engage with our lives. Paying attention to where we are and what we’re doing also re- lates to the issue of multi-tasking, which many of us do not only at work but in our lives. Because our brains can only process one thing at a time, micro-second by micro-second, we’re actually frac- turing our attention when we “multi-task” and reducing our overall effectiveness. Changing our habits and being more present for each thing we’re doing, or each person we’re talking to, is satisfying, calm- ing, and yes, efficient. We can use every event and every moment of our lives to practice the wakefulness that mindfulness brings. One of my weekly meditation groups is for people who belong to the Sibley Senior Association. When we used to meet at the hospital, pre-pandemic, we would often hear ambulance sirens as people were brought into the emergency room. Instead of regarding the noise as a disturbance, we used it as a reminder of the suffering in the world and would send our compassion to whoever was being brought in at that moment. In mindfulness, we’re not trying to escape from the events of our lives–the sounds, sights, relationships, emotions, activ -
26—PATHWAYS—Summer 21
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