Mindful Strategies

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving."

- Albert Einstein

"To be happy it's terribly important to find the kind of work you really love to do."
- Julia Child


"When many people are in the 'in between,' where most living is done, they feel they're in a kind of doldrum existence which they can't possibly equate with happiness. Actually,they're happy and don't know it."
- Theodore Issac Rubin, M.D.


"Happiness involves self-respect and having some feeling of value. It also means having an impact on the world, whatever form that takes. It may be the ability to make very good bookcases or it may be running the best diner in town."
-Gloria Steinem


"Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live thoughtlessly and begins to devote himself to his life with reverence in order to give it true value. "
— Albert Schweitzer


"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly."
- Buddha




“If you could only keep quiet, clear of memories and expectations, you would be able to discern the beautiful pattern of events. It’s your restlessness that causes chaos.”
- Nisaragadatta Maharaj


"Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory."
- George S. Patton Jr.



The greatest challenge is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution:
"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane."
- Philip K. Dick






Six Mindful Strategies to Recover from Trauma, Loss, and Change:


Reach out for Support: Don’t try to bear your trauma alone. Ask for assistance from your friends, spiritual leaders, support groups and professionals.

Sit Quietly and Reflect: No matter the severity of your trauma, sit quietly and ask yourself, “Historically have I experienced other challenges in my life and how did I navigate through them?” Now use these past experiences to tap into your internal courage and strength and explore if you can implement the same strategies again.

Trust Your Inner Resources: Once you realize that you survived other traumas before now trust in yourself to know that you have the ability to get through your present challenge.


Learn to Keep Yourself Centered through the Unbearable Feelings of Grief: When the waves of sadness and helplessness wash over you initially feel the emotion and it’s depth but then start to breathe through the grief with slow deep breaths. This will help you stay grounded and bring you back to the present.


Start Imagining a New Life: Even though you are experiencing immense grief start to imagine and invent in your mind’s eye a new future for yourself.


Practice Mindfulness: While doing grounding practices such as meditation, yoga, or even walks in nature remember that your loss is cyclical like the seasons. Even when we are in the depths of winter we know that eventually it will become more manageable with advent of summer. Learn to tolerate and pace yourself through the most severe times.



Source:
http://mindful.org/in-body-and-mind/coping-with-difficulty/6-mindful-strategies-for-recovering-from-loss

Ronald Alexander, Ph.D. is the author of the widely acclaimed book, Wise Mind, Open Mind: Finding Purpose and Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss, and Changeand upon which this article is based. He is the Executive Director of the OpenMind Training® Institute, practices mindfulness-based mind-body psychotherapy and leadership coaching in Santa Monica, CA.