I’ve been an on-and-on meditator and practitioner of other forms of mindfulness (paying attention to the present moment and accepting whatever arises through practices like meditation) for almost 40 years – my mom was an early adapter of eastern practices and shared them with us as children. But, I’ve been a FULL ON knowledge gourmand for over 50 years. I LOVE amassing knowledge just for the sheer joy of it but I don’t necessarily put into personal practice what I am learning.
Currently, I’m working my way through the Palouse Mindfulness training course. It’s a free 8 course that anyone can participate in. Why the Palouse training has been so valuable is that there is an imparting of knowledge in terms of instruction on the value of and the scientific research behind mindfulness but also, as part of the program, you are asked to do daily mindfulness practices like meditation. And, being the good student that I am, I am doing what I am instructed to do.
Here’s what I’ve found with (almost) daily practice
With an almost daily practice of mindfulness, my anxiety is less, my stress level is lowered and I’m much more patient with others. No amount of knowledge alone has ever brought me this much emotional relief. I find too that my understanding of the knowledge I have gained has come alive and become richer and deeper with the addition of regular practice.
Knowledge is AMAZING and important but you must take action to make your dreams come true
We all know that eating “healthy” and exercising are beneficial to our health. We may even know a lot about what makes a healthy diet or the benefits of certain types of exercise but if we do not eat that way or exercise regularly we will not get results. We know these things just like someone with diabetes knows that candy could make her diabetes worse but still keeps eating it. We often use excuses like I don’t have the time or it’s too hard. But, knowledge is a hollow endeavor without action.
Are you getting the results you desire?
If not…ask yourself, am I REALLY putting all of my knowledge into action?
It might be hard to do this on your own…find some resources and then take action every day
If you are looking to improve mindfulness, I highly recommend finding a meditation teacher or enrolling in a meditation course online or downloading an app (I particularly like the CALM app) but there are plenty of free resources out there as well. And, you can get some basic mindfulness and meditation practice ideas on my previous blogs here, here and here.
JennyKalina.com 