{"id":2522,"date":"2012-07-21T14:54:18","date_gmt":"2012-07-21T18:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=2522"},"modified":"2012-07-21T14:54:18","modified_gmt":"2012-07-21T18:54:18","slug":"whats-on-your-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/07\/whats-on-your-mind.html","title":{"rendered":"What’s On Your Mind?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Having just written about the obstacles to practice, I would like to invite you, dear readers, to submit questions that are arising in your practice. My favorite way of teaching is responding to questions.<\/p>\n

The challenge of mindfulness is not understanding mindfulness–it’s easy in concept, difficult in practice: Pay attention to what is happening now and when your attention moves away from now, bring it back. Repeat as necessary.<\/p>\n

How do we apply the principles of living in the moment in the midst of our stressful lives? Our minds can play tricks on us, convincing us that these thoughts we are engaging now are necessary, perhaps even vital to our very survival. If my mind is in any way a reflection of minds in general, these thoughts are neither necessary nor vital. They are just thoughts, obsessive ones at that.<\/p>\n

What are the situations that challenge you most, where you find it hardest to be mindful? When do you go on automatic pilot? By submitting these situations, we can talk through the process of being mindful even in the midst of stressful circumstances. These situations may be at work, at home, or in the transitions between. They may be in social contexts or when we are alone with ourselves, perhaps awake in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n

You can submit your questions as comments or if you prefer to email me, you may do so at drkozak [at] exquisitemind [dot] com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having just written about the obstacles to practice, I would like to invite you, dear readers, to submit questions that are arising in your practice. My favorite way of teaching is responding to questions. The challenge of mindfulness is not understanding mindfulness–it’s easy in concept, difficult in practice: Pay attention to what is happening now…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9,19],"tags":[21,79],"class_list":["post-2522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-awake-at-work","category-mindful-living","category-mindfulnesss","category-stress-reduction","tag-mindfulness","tag-present-moment-living"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's On Your Mind? - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/07\/whats-on-your-mind.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What's On Your Mind? - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Having just written about the obstacles to practice, I would like to invite you, dear readers, to submit questions that are arising in your practice. 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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\/2522","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=2522"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2527,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2522\/revisions\/2527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}