Mindfulness Based Personal Growth
We look for reasons to love others, to want to be close to them—certain character traits, similar life circumstances, their opinions—and this is natural, normal, understandable, and very limiting. What if we could love others even without these labels? What if we had the ability to see beneath immediate judgments, to be able to gently be with every expression that appears before us?
Within the quiet of the retreat, the mind begins to observe itself. Our stories about the people in our lives rise to the surface, but contrary to the automatic response, we see them not as absolute facts but as projections of our consciousness. It's a moment of powerful discovery: when we see someone who annoys us, within seconds we recognize how we act in the exact same way. This realization turns our world upside down.
Changing Habits from an Angel's Perspective We're all familiar with it: we carry a certain habit with us for years. Maybe it's a pattern of procrastination, unnecessary eating in front of a screen, anger that erupts at the wrong moment, or an inability to let go of a small addiction. We try again and again to change—sometimes by force, sometimes gently—yet we find ourselves returning to the same place. From a typical point of view, bad habits seem to prove something about us: that we are weak, not good enough, or lack discipline. But there is another way to see things—a compassionate, profound, and surprising way.
The moment we occupy ourselves with things that are not our own, trying to take responsibility for what is not in our control, we are essentially investing energy in a barren field. The common mistake is to think that busying ourselves with others' affairs grants us control, when in fact, it strips it away. Instead of managing my own life, I am living within the movie I project onto them. The result: worry, comparison, self-criticism, and the very detachment from life itself.
One of the most important spiritual practices is the practice of awareness of death. Sorry for the dramatic opening, but it's true. And if we're lucky, we'll live a long enough life to look back and ask ourselves: "Did I live a life worth living? Did I fulfill myself?" Each of us has different definitions of what a "life worth living" is, and that's perfectly fine, as long as we are sure that indeed, these are our definitions, which we have tested and explored with awareness and we have decided that they are right for us, and not because we have adopted what our society has dictated to us, without daring to even put a little question mark at the end. So the invitation this time is to bring forward this death-bed retrospective evaluation of my life, and so I can relate to each night when I go to sleep as a kind of small "death", before which I make the same retrospection, and recognize everything I have achieved until today. And the next day, a new day, we do it again.
So what am I actually saying? That I shouldn't strive to change things I don't like in my life? That I offer a defeatist worldview? Definitely not. There are times when it is necessary to stand up and take action to change the situation, and even if it is not necessary, there is nothing wrong with wanting things to be different. I only suggest that we do it intelligently, consciously, so that we don't spend our lives in continuous resistance to what life brings our way. I suggest an attitude which allows acceptance of the whole range of life's experiences - because they are all part of the journey.
Sound paradoxical? Well, not really. Because you see, actually there is something deceptive about giving. On the face of it, it seems as if there is someone who has more, and is the benefactor of the one who has less - who is the receiving party.At the same time, everyone who has ever taken part… Continue reading Not Anyone’s Fool – and Therefore Strives to Develop Generosity to a Level of Perfection.
Mindfulness, conscious attention, is the ability to be attentive and aware of what is happening in our minds, in our lives, in the present moment. Mindfulness is basically observing what the senses perceive, the thoughts passing through our minds, the sensations of the body. We can practice mindfulness in meditation, on the pillow, and we… Continue reading What is Mindfulness Anyway?
Today the school year starts. And every year the excitement is just as great, and even more. Anyone who is not a teacher will not understand this. There is something addictive about these new beginnings that we teachers get every year; The possibility of something new - similar and different at the same time. New… Continue reading Pizza Happiness and Education for Meaning
Mindful Education 