Vinaire's Blog

Reference: Mindfulness 0: See Things as They are

Mindfulness is “seeing things as they are”. At the basis of mindfulness is the recognition of something or nothing.

Of course, something and nothing are relative to the background of unbroken uniformity. So, we define something and nothing as follows.

“Something” = a manifestation,

“Nothing” = absence of manifestation.

It is as important to recognize “nothing” as it is to recognize “something”.

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MINDFULNESS #01: Recognize something and nothing.

In a class of students, call out “Mindfulness 0” instructions to establish students in mindfulness meditation. Then proceed by explaining to the students,.

“I shall call out some items from a list. Your task is to recognize if some memory comes up automatically or not. It is as important to recognize ‘nothing’ as it is to recognize ‘something’.”

Call out items from the following list, 5 seconds apart. Only enough items needs to be called out to get the point of this exercise across.

Then let the class continue with the mindfulness meditation in silence.

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 Spot a moment in your life when…

1. You were happy.
2. You climbed a tree.
3. You ate something good.
4. You received a present.
5. You enjoyed a laugh.
6. You helped somebody.
7. You threw a ball.
8. Something important happened to you.
9. You played a game.
10. You jumped down from a tree.
11. You won a contest.
12. You laughed loudly.
13. You met someone you liked.
14. You flew on a plane.
15. You were at a beautiful place.
16. You jumped into a pool.
17. You enjoyed a beautiful morning.
18. You went for a walk.
19. Somebody teased you.
20. You sat in a coffee shop.
21. You danced with joy.
22. You raced with someone.
23. You completed something important.
24. You were pleasantly surprised.
25. You met somebody after a long time.
26. You were caught in a rain.
27. You heard a thunder.
28. Someone smiled at you.
29. You played with a pet.
30. You held someone’s hand.
31. Someone picked you up.
32. You were spinning around.
33. You read a good book.
34. You felt breeze on your face.
35. You saw a beautiful flower.
36. You smelled a rose.
37. Somebody called you.
38. You were in a play on the stage.
39. You sang aloud.
40. You watched a movie.
41. Your team won.
42. You rode with friends.
43. You visited a beautiful garden.
44. You played in water.
45. The weather was stormy.
46. Somebody gave you a hug.
47. You liked somebody.
48. You slid down a slide.
49. You ran toward someone you liked.
50. You enjoyed a beautiful weather.

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Exercise Part 1

Exercise Part 2

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