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If you are experiencing a life threatening emergency,
please call the crisis hotline
at 1-800-479-3339 or 911.

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:: COMMUNITY RESOURCES
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:: Abuse
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:: Anxiety & Stress
:: Anger
:: Children & Teens
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:: Health & Well-Being
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There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

— Shakespeare

{ RESOURCES: Anxiety & Stress }

ARTICLE #3: An Introduction to Mindfulness Practice
Full Article | by Kristin A. Gresko

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:: A Guide to Understanding the Seven Pillars of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a practice cultivated by allowing yourself to become an impartial witness to your own experience that requires an entirely new way of looking at the process of learning including commitment, self-discipline and intentionality. This creates an awareness that requires only that we pay attention and see things as they are.  It doesn’t require that we change anything yet.

It is when the mind is open and receptive that learning, awareness, and change can occur. Healing requires receptivity and acceptance, a tuning to connectedness and wholeness, and your intentions set the stage for what is possible.  There are seven major pillars of mindfulness practice that work together to influence cultivation of others.

NON-JUDGING:
Non-judging requires an awareness of the constant stream of judging and reacting to inner and outer experiences, and learning to step back and just observe what is actually there without judgment.

PATIENCE:
Patience is a form of wisdom, demonstrating that things must unfold in their own time. Patience reminds us that things take time, especially when frustrated or overwhelmed.

BEGINNER'S MIND :
An open “beginner’s mind” allows us to be receptive to new possibilities and prevents us from getting stuck.  Often, our thinking and beliefs prevent us from seeing things as they truly are. It is a willingness to be open to seeing things as if for the first time, as if seeing through the eyes of a child.

TRUST:
Developing a basic trust in your self is an integral part of developing inner guidance. Placing trust in others, even authority figures, doesn’t allow you to honor your own feelings and intuition. Learning to trust your own wisdom.

NON-STRIVING:
Almost everything we do has a purpose, while mindfulness has no other goal than to be yourself. Sometimes, the best way to achieve your goals is focus on accept things as they are, so movement can take place naturally. This promotes a new way of seeing yourself and situations.

ACCEPTANCE:
Acceptance is seeing things as they actually are in the present, and is often reached after experiencing an emotional rollercoaster of denial and anger. While these stages are part of the healing process, we expend energy on forcing situations to be what we want instead of what is.

LETTING GO:
As we gain awareness into our inner world, we discover that the mind holds onto certain thoughts, feelings and situations. We want to prolong pleasant experiences and protect or rid ourselves of unpleasant ones.  Letting go can free our mind to see our own attachments.

If we help a butterfly emerge from chrysalis, even with the best intentions, we deprive it of it’s own strength and growth. We actually compromise it’s own ability and confidence to fly. Mindfulness requires that we bring our whole being to the process and  allow our own transformation.

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Full Catastrophe Living
Using the Wisdom of the Mind to face Stress, Pain, and Illness
by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.

This material was taken from the teachings of mindfulness by Jon Kabat-Zinn, which applies ancient meditative techniques to present life and the main sources of stress in daily living

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