{"id":1247,"date":"2011-04-27T21:41:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T01:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=1247"},"modified":"2011-05-05T19:45:28","modified_gmt":"2011-05-05T23:45:28","slug":"waking-up-is-a-revolutionary-act-a-manifesto-for-mindful-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/04\/waking-up-is-a-revolutionary-act-a-manifesto-for-mindful-living.html","title":{"rendered":"Waking Up is a Revolutionary Act: A Manifesto for Mindful Living"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I alluded to in the entry, The Mindfulness Revolution<\/a>, any good revolution needs a manifesto. So here it is, part one of ten. There is a book out called the Mindfulness Manifesto and I confess that I haven’t read it. Here is my version. To adumbrate, here are the ten chapters that comprise it:<\/p>\n

1. Start Right Here, Right Now<\/p>\n

2. Put Yourself in Context<\/p>\n

3. Put That Big Brain to Good Use<\/p>\n

4. Get Beyond Yourself<\/p>\n

5. Be Good<\/p>\n

6. Embrace Change<\/p>\n

7. Practice\u00a0Happiness<\/p>\n

8. Attune, Resonate, Integrate<\/p>\n

9. Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid<\/p>\n

10. Be Self-Reliant<\/p>\n

1. Start Right Here, Right Now<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes much more sense to live in the present tense\u201d <\/em>\u2013 Eddie Vedder<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It is always now and this is the only moment we can live. I don\u2019t mean some idea of now \u2013 the actual experience of now. What are you doing now? What does it look like, sound like, taste like, and most importantly, feel like?<\/p>\n

How much of your attention is here with the experience and how much is elsewhere? Can you give your full attention to what is happening now? Or at least try to. And when attention goes somewhere or some place else can you tap into awareness<\/em> to bring attention back? Give this a try. Right now, if you don\u2019t mind!<\/p>\n

This awareness attends to the psychological present that lasts about three seconds.<\/p>\n

The present moment is the currency of our lives. How do you want to spend these moments? We\u2019ll have about 600 million of these moments in the course of our lives. Sounds like a lot, but you\u2019ve just spent a few of them. And if you\u2019re not paying attention \u2013 these moments go by unnoticed; gifts that remain unwrapped.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it; you\u2019re talking to yourself most of the time. This talk can be accompanied by images and feelings or these images and feelings can be featured on their own without talk. It\u2019s a great human capacity to be able to represent words and images in imagination. Cool stuff. However, \u2026<\/p>\n

Where is your attention most of the time? In fantasy, imagination, lala land. In any given moment attention, when not fully with the present moment will be in any one of nine different spaces. Your self-talk and images may be hanging out in the future. This future may be pleasant, anticipating something wonderful that is on the horizon or something hoped for. This feels good. This future may be unpleasant, anxious worry about something that may or may not happen. This feels bad. Or attention may be randomly engaged with the future with no particular emotional charge. Welcome to your brain.<\/p>\n

Or attention may go retro. This past may be pleasant, a fond memory of something. This also feels good. This past may be unpleasant, a preoccupation with regret; a rumination on imperfections. This feels bad. Or attention may be randomly engaged with the past with no particular charge; just doing what brains do.<\/p>\n

There is another place your mind tends to be, that is if you have a pulse \u2013 commenting upon the present. This is not being in the present \u2013 it\u2019s another form of imagination-driven fantasy. I like this; I want more of this. I don\u2019t like this; I want it to stop. Why is this happening to me? I can\u2019t wait to tell so and so about this. The present is referenced but not experienced directly. It\u2019s the common occurrence that William James noted one hundred years ago that our intellectual life, \u201cconsists almost entirely of substituting a conceptual order for the perceptual order\u201d in which our experience originally lives.<\/p>\n

Try the perceptual order. You might find life to be more vivid and less rife with anguish. No stories about the future and past and no commentary about the present leave anguish no place to hide. No stories, no suffering. Period.<\/p>\n

Waking Up is a Revolutionary Act: A Manifesto for Mindful Living was inspired by Experience Life magazine<\/a>, Editor-in-Chief, Pilar Gerasimo’s, article Being Healthy is a Revolutionary Act: Renegade Perspectives for Thriving in a Mixed Up Worl<\/a>d, and its accompanying A Manifesto for Thriving in a Mixed Up World<\/a>. Visit http:\/\/RevolutionaryAct.com<\/a>, the website devoted to Being Health is a Revolutionary Act: A Manifesto for Thriving in a Mixed-Up World <\/a>and download your own copy of the manifesto and join the movement! Read more about Experience Life her<\/a>e.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I alluded to in the entry, The Mindfulness Revolution, any good revolution needs a manifesto. So here it is, part one of ten. There is a book out called the Mindfulness Manifesto and I confess that I haven’t read it. Here is my version. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1247"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1257,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions\/1257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}