I Am Mountain

I came across a review of an app called 'Mountain' several weeks back. The general idea is that it generates a mindfulness reminder in the form of a mountain that sits on your phone or tablet. The reviewer seemed a bit confused by the whole concept but I thought I'd give it a whirl given that I'm an enthusiastic Buddhist practitioner, so new tools are always fun to have at hand. Practice in the digital age! 

I downloaded the app and went through the series of questions given to me to determine what shape my mountain would take. 

There are several fun things right away about this app which really entertained me. For example, as it's loading when you first open it the words 'patience' are on the screen. I love this. So much. It reminds me of a practice I do when I'm waiting for something. I call it my 'waiting practice' - to keep things simple.  

I focus on my breath while I'm waiting, wherever I'm waiting. For the doctor, in a queue, for the train to arrive at the station - these are all fabulous chances to just be. 

It was a real challenge for me when I started because the compulsion to look at my phone was so strong. I hadn't realised how much I turned to it for entertainment or distraction. Or how much I used it to feel 'busy' when I had nothing else to do or something was taking longer than I'd expected. 

I still feel the compulsion but it's much easier to just sit with that and experience it. Examine it like, "Oh, that's what's going on now" instead of acting on it. 

Anyway - this app starts with 'patience' instead of telling us to wait, and that's pretty cool and a very good indication of what's to come. 

My mountain...

After the first time it loads you are never asked questions again. You get your mountain and it rotates slowly on the screen. There are clouds and stars come out at night. Sometimes it rains and sometimes it snows. The trees change colour and occasionally there's something random imbedded in it - but the mountain remains largely the same. 

I showed it to a colleague and was promptly met with the question, "But what are you supposed to DO with it?" 

Well - nothing. It's not about doing. It's an app about being. And I find it extremely effective. For example, one morning I was eating my breakfast and trying to read a book. My mind was all over the place though and I couldn't seem to concentrate on the words. So I thought, "I'll check out my mountain for a bit." 

I loaded it up - patiently - and sat eating my breakfast and just watching the mountain slowly turn. My brain almost instantly calmed down. It was just focused on my mountain. The clouds got thick and it began to snow, which was actually really exciting because I'd seen rain on the mountain before but not snow! 

And then some words popped up on the screen. I AM BEAUTY. That was great. Just - something else to contemplate in my day and in that moment as I sat there with my liquid breakfast in hand. 

I have to say - this is probably one of the coolest apps on my phone and a brilliant example of functional design. The creator has managed to successfully capture the essence of mindfulness practice in a digital format.

The Little Book of Mindfulness

I was asked to review this book for 'Single Step' - a quarterly magazine out out by Depression Alliance. I've gotten involved with them through work as they've recently launched a support forum call Friends in Need. It's a great community and I'm really enjoying being involved in it.

And now, the review! 

I first began to practice mindfulness in 2008 as a way to help me recover from a complete mental breakdown. I was diagnosed with panic disorder and depression at the age of seventeen and at the age of twenty-three the fact that I had no real coping mechanisms or positive mental health practices caught up with me. 

I began seeing a psychologist who specialised in anxiety disorders and used cognitive behaviour therapy as one of her methods of treatment. She recognised very quickly that I was more than willing to work with my thoughts to find a solution to my excessive neuroses and on one of our very first sessions she talked me through the mindful eating of a raisin. 

Her approach was brilliant as it demonstrated to me the capacity I have for mindfulness and that everyone has an experience of it. Lately mindfulness seems to be ‘trending’ and it’s very easy to get caught up in it on a superficial level without an intrinsic understanding of what it involves. 

The Little Book of Mindfulness is like the Coles notes of everything I have learned in the last six years. I can emphatically say it not only presents mindfulness in an accessible way, but it can act as a refresher or tool for long-time practitioners. 

Sampling tidbits from a multitude of teachers with both psychological and spiritual backgrounds, this offers a well rounded view of the practice and how we can go about making it a conscious part of day to day life.

A Book Review!

I'm a big reader. Last year I read 40 books. In 2012 I competed with my dad to see who could read the most. I finished with 63, beating him by a single book. I'm glad I didn't compete with him last year as he set a new personal record - reading 89 books by the year's end - the most he's read in a year since he started keeping track.

I'm not in the same competition this year although my dad and I always compare our lists when we Skype each weekend. We summarise where we're at, what we're reading currently and what we have coming up.

This regular chat we have is something I love and it got me thinking. I would say probably every fifth or sixth book I read is so incredibly influential that I want to share it with my parents and anyone else willing to listen. Anyone who knows me knows I won't shut up when I've read something particularly good.

So I'm always looking for stuff to write about in this blog and it occurred to me: Why not book reviews?!

What a great way to share something I've discovered!

To start off I'm going to review the first book I finished reading in the New Year:

Bolte Taylor is a neuroscientist, inspired to study the brain after her brother was diagnosed as schizophrenic. 

At 37 she suffered a massive stroke on the left hemisphere of her brain. As a brain scientist she grew very curious about her experience and she attributes her recovery to her knowledge and understanding of the brain's elasticity and ability to create new neural pathways when old ones have been damaged or destroyed. 

I don't want to reveal any spoilers so that's all I'll tell you about the contents. 

I love this book. I love this book so much I'll probably re-read it this year. I love this book so much people who know me will probably soon own their own copies. That's how amazing I found it. 

As someone who meditates I believe very strongly in the power of the mind and the present moment. I have done Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with my psychologist and believe wholeheartedly that working to change habitual thoughts patterns does change how we feel about and respond to life. 

Bolte Taylor's writing confirms all of this and shares it in language that's easy to understand. Reading the experience of someone who has medical training on how the brain works is both fascinating and affirming. The way she breaks down the role each hemisphere plays and how they communicate together is wonderful. Her subsequent revelations based on the experience of 'reconnecting' that communication opened my own mind to new ways of thinking. 

I feel her most profound revelation was that we control our brains, rather than the other way around. This was a discovery she didn't make as a brain scientist but as a stroke patient in recovery. As a result she has developed some incredible tools to ensure a sense of happiness and wellbeing and discourage negative patterns of thought.   

I have been using some of the tools she describes to work with my own thoughts, with profound results. Her insight is incredible and I'm extremely grateful to her for sharing her story. I appreciate that she shared it largely to assist people in recovering from or supporting someone recovering from a stroke, but I think it would be beneficial to anyone willing and interested in working with their mind.

Enjoying your own company

Loch Voil, in the valley where Dhanakosa is located

I was away for eight day at the end of July, beginning of August. I attended a retreat at the Dhanakosa Buddhist centre in Scotland. It was an amazing time for me as I was able to spend a lot of time in my own company. 

I know that, for a lot of people, the idea of spending time in your own company can actually be quite frightening. I know this because I used to really dislike being in my own company. I used to go through long periods of depression and for several years I suffered from an anxiety disorder. For anyone who has experienced depression or anxiety (Which is probably everyone reading this) the idea of spending time alone in your won head when either of these very strong emotions is running its course isn't just uncomfortable but potentially frightening and possibly even dangerous.

It took a lot of work and a lot of paying attention to what was going on for me to work through both of those things, but here I am! I've gone nearly two years without taking medication, loving who I am and being able to spend time with that person.

For me this retreat was a big step in that it meant I was going for my own growth and not to run away from anything. I am a firm believer in not running away from your problems. This is because you can't. The thing about your problems is that they belong to you and therefore, wherever you run, they will follow. But there can be exceptions to this rule. For example, if your problem is that you really want to go travelling but you can't seem to motivate yourself then running away is, in fact, solving a problem.

I want to talk about this problem of inaction because that's the sort of problem I help my clients solve. The problems that niggle and sit there but always seem easier to ignore than to deal with. First of all, ignoring something doesn't make it go away. In fact, ignoring something is usually a really good way to aggravate it to the point where you can't ignore it anymore.

Depression and anxiety are a good example of this. Depression begins in sadness and anxiety begins in fear. Both are natural emotions which must be expected in life. They are just things that happen and generally, they are there to tell us to pay attention. Sadness is asking us to pay attention to loss or a need not being met. Fear is telling us to prepare or plan for something.

Ignore them and they will become more urgent. They will grow in strength as they work to get you to pay attention to the issue at hand. The more you don't listen to them the louder they become and at their loudest they are no longer sadness and fear but depression and anxiety. Leave it even longer and they can become Clinical Depression and Panic Disorder or some other diagnosable mental illness.

Learning to enjoy your own company means learning to listen to these emotions as they arise. When we can pay attention to them from the start we can see what needs or wants are being neglected and rationally determine what is needed.

This retreat was great as it allowed me time and space to sit without distraction and reflect on the things which fulfill me. I was able to focus my energy, appreciate the amount of time in a day, and really analyse what I want to do in the coming months. It was also a chance for me to pay attention to some of my own little niggles which I've not given a chance to be heard.

Giving yourself time and space to be heard is important. No one else is going to do that for you though, so you need to give yourself the right setting and tools to go there. This isn't always easy, especially if you've not done it before or done it often. As a coach I believe in giving my clients the space they need to listen to their own dreams, hopes and wishes. Then, working together, make them a reality.

www.CreativeLifeCoachLondon.com
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Projection

“The mind is everything. What you think you become.”

- Buddha

Regardless of whether Buddha said it or not, it's quite true. Our thoughts translate into our actions, words, and beliefs and these are the things which make us up. 

But here's a different thought. What you think of other people defines who they are. 

At first this might seem ridiculous. If 'what you think you become' then obviously other people's thoughts define them. But the way in which we view the world is an extension of our thoughts. The way we view another human being is by how we think of them, which means people are who we believe them to be. 

For example, a stranger on the train. They are dressed in jeans which have glitter on them. They have on sneakers that are black and have a design painted on one side. They are wearing a t-shirt with a print of a tiger's face on it. They have long hair with green and red streaks in it. 

I may look at them and think: "What a quirky, artistic individual." 

Or I may think: "What a funny, unique person." 

Or I may think: "What a freaky weirdo." 

Is that person any of those things? My description was purely factual so any 'feeling' I have about who they are and what their personality is is based purely on my thoughts which are based on my own experiences and perceptions. 

So what about someone you "know"? I put it in quotes because the argument is, can you really know someone when what you think colours how you see the world? 

Try describing a member of your family without using a storyline. By a storyline I mean any embellishing words or descriptions which are not indisputable fact. If you're not sure or are having difficulty then go ahead and write down your description as you would but then cross out all the things which cannot be 100% verified as fact. 

An interesting result, isn't it? We cannot truly "know" someone because how we see a person, no matter how close to us they may be, will always be through the lense of our own thoughts, ideas and experiences. 

That being said, how might this change the way you think about other people? Please share your thoughts below.