How to Train an Elephant (book)

[FeeHutch]

Yep, the weather is certainly helping keep water awareness at the forefront of my mind

[FeeHutch]

We with the weather in the UK this week I have been very aware of water from the amount of it I have drunk to baths to sweat to trying to meet the needs of my parched garden.
It has been a very busy week and tomorrow is an important day so I haven't had chance to devote the proper consideration to our next task but I will endevour to post tomorrow about that.
I hope you have had a good week Steve and that everyone reading along with us have too.

[FeeHutch]

So this week is about looking up. I did this back when I started my mindfulness journey and it is something that 'stuck' for me. I think it was because in looking up I noticed so many statues and plaques and trees and building designs I had never noticed before despite them all being discovered on my everyday walks. We really do seem to just look at a 'narrow wedge' of our world.

The idea that looking is not the same as seeing was brought home powerfully to me in the months after I became ill. I had various issues with my ability to process a lot of information at once and my depth perception was 'off'. More times than I care to mention I was nearly knocked over crossing the road because although I had looked both ways before setting off I had not seen the car driving towards me. Part of my rehab focused on deliberate and conscious looking and making sure I had also seen what was around me. it is still something I struggle with more some times than others so this is a good reminder for me

[Steve]

On holiday water and sky everywhere catch up at w/e Steve

[FeeHutch]

I have enjoyed looking up this week - when the sun hasn't blinded me! There is something mindful and peaceful about widening your normal field of vision. Sometimes I don't feel I am even really looking at that, the trips I do so often like taking the girls to school and back are so often done pretty much with my eyes closed!

Week 30 is called defining and defending. This isn't something I have really thought about from a mindful perspective. How often do I defend a position and how often do I see objects as mine. Just this morning I used the bowl my daughter decorated at her big sisters birthday party. It has her name painted on. I grabbed it for my breakfast as the nearest bowl, she was was having toast. When she saw me eating out of it she protested that I was using her bowl. She defined it as hers and I immediately defended my position because she wasn't using it.

I think this one is going to require extra vigilance from me. D&D (which normally means something different in this house, being married to a role play geek) links for me to the idea of attachment. Plus I found this quote really struck something in me:

Greed arises when we think we need something in order to complete ourselves and be happy. It could be a certain car, house, food, an academic degree or public acclaim. If we can't have what we set our hearts on, we become unhappy. This is defining ourselves by material possessions, that which we can manage to get and hold on to.

I think this can be further extended to include physical attributes and personal relationships. I hope this is going to be a very enlightening week.

I hope you have had a good holiday Steve!

[JonW]

"Greed arises when we think we need something in order to complete ourselves and be happy. It could be a certain car, house, food, an academic degree or public acclaim. If we can't have what we set our hearts on, we become unhappy. This is defining ourselves by material possessions, that which we can manage to get and hold on to."

That's a great quote and one to live by.
If I've learned anything from mindfulness it's that happiness cannot be found in anything external, apart from nature. Many thinks tantalisingly offer pleasure but that tends to be ephemeral. True happiness is found within and by feeling connected with the natural world.

[Steve]

Hi all - now back from holiday (Mediterranean weather in Wales!).

A quick catch-up on the 'Water' week. Being aware of water just made me think about how fundamental it is to all life as we know it and how it is involved in so many, many aspects of our lives. And on top of this we live on a planet which somehow manages to stay within the very narrow temperature band in which water is usually in liquid form. This is absolutely incredible and really makes you realise that we should respect and value water and all the eco-systems which help maintain this amazing situation.

Looking up: I have also done this before and love looking at trees, clouds, the sky etc - it really does help lift you out of the very narrow perspective we otherwise tend to live in. I liked the passage that it helps us "open up the claustrophobic closet of our self-obsessed life and taste freedom".

Being by the sea also brought home both water and sky in all their majesty. Very difficult to be narrow minded when at the coast.

Yes, this week sounds like an good learning exercise in how we define our selves and what's mine. I like the view that we are only really temporary custodians of the property that we 'own'.

Steve

[FeeHutch]

I've not been at all well the last couple of days so this sort post doesn't really represent the amount of consideration I've given the idea of define and defend I'm afraid.
It made me think how much of my life from the side of the bed I sleep on, the toiletries I use and the food I eat I define as mine. Mostly it is unspoken, an expectation that I never verbalise unless someone tries to breach the defenses as what I define as mine. My husband and I have only discussed the side of the bed we take when our first daughter was born. We swapped sides so I could be by the cot. That was 7 and a half years ago and we never swapped back. If I go to bed tonight and he has taken 'my' side I will be very annoyed. But why? It is our bed after all.
So what I am trying to say (badly I fear, lots of pain killers make me a bit rambly) is that we need to consider the attachments we have to the tangible and intangible equally and also the things we define and defend almost unconsciously.

So this week is about noticing smells. Smell can be so evocative in a good or painful way, it can be a powerful way of bringing you back to the current moment too. I'm looking forward to this week

[Steve]

Sorry to hear you're having a challenging time, Fee. The examples you give also show what creatures of habit we are and how we get upset if our routine is disturbed or we are forced to face something unfamiliar. I guess this is all part of us wanting the future to be as we want it to be rather than accepting what happens is happening.

I found it easiest to be aware of this weeks project by trying to notice when things (people, events etc) upset me or produced a negative reaction in me by taking this as a sign that I was seeking satisfaction/happiness from things/people rather than looking for happiness within myself (whatever is happening around me).

Smells for the coming week. Yes, this promises to be good. We seem to use the sense of smell so little that it will be good to expand awareness of smells and/or see if they do affect us unconsciously more than we appreciate. I also like the fact that smelling is closely associated with breathing so a great extension of using the breath to increase awareness of the present moment.

I hope the week looks up for you. Maybe time to get the joss sticks or scented candles out to help evoke tranquillity and calm?

Steve

[FeeHutch]

Hi Steve
I am mostly calm but joss sticks always welcome It is physical problems with my back this time. I have been unable to stand properly or walk for a couple of days. Then I made a potentially very serious mix up with some of my meds, thankfully it all seems to calming down again now slowly but surely

I started a short story last week that was in part inspired by the idea that smell is a very powerful aid to prompting memory. Maybe paying special attention to smells this week will also encourage me to finish the story too