Mindfulness

Mindfulness is simply being

aware of what’s happening

right now without wishing it

were different;

enjoying the pleasant without

holding on when it changes

(which it will);

being with the unpleasant

without fearing it will always

be this way (which it won’t).
James Baraz

Being present in every moment, accepting it as it is and being aware that life is in constant change: this is the secret of a mindful life. Everything will pass, you and your awareness will remain. So trust the process and live your life with your full potential, this is the only way not to regret it at the end. Do not hide yourself, show always up. You own it to yourself.

Celebrate your life

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
Oprah Winfrey

It is when you start to focus on the small joys that you notice your life is full of them. In this process it’s important that you learn to accept your life as it is with all the challenges you are facing, seeing them as a possibility to grow.

Putting the light on the beautiful things in your life by naming and celebrating them will give you a sense of inner peace.

Happiness is love and you start to feel happy when you begin to love your life as it is without fighting against yourself. A positive mindset attracts positive things so that you will find yourself celebrating your life in every possible occasion. You will be able, for example, to notice and appreciate a small thing like a beautiful flower in your garden.

The best choice

I came across this picture shared by Hal Elrod on Instagram and reading his words made me think.

This sentence says a lot about Hal as a person, about his energetic and enthusiastic character but also about how he chose to be like this.

We can always choose who we want to be and how we want to feel. We can choose to complain and see the things in our life as bad or not enough. We can choose not to accept our current situation or to be constantly looking for a change, doing nothing in order to reach it. This is easy: it does not require any efforts.

But does it bring us further?!

Surely not.

Happiness, acceptance, confidence and productivity are better choices. They require engagement but they lead you to be the person you know you can be.

By accepting your life and being content about it, you will gain confidence and you will be more productive because you are more aware about what you can perform.

If you can imagine yourself doing something, this is the first step to reach that status. What follows are commitment and exercise. You will feel automatically happier in the moment you realize that you are doing your best every day. This is enough to be proud of yourself and to enjoy your life. Try it!

On friendship during COVID-19

There is nothing I missed more during the COVID-19 restrictions than hanging out with friends.

Nothing enriches my soul more than an evening with friends, talking about everything, switching topics randomly, laughing and having a good meal together.

Maybe I felt the restrictions during the pandemic so difficult because I live far away from my original family and friends. The friends I have here in Germany are the people I can rely on immediately and not having the possibility to see them neither was really hard for me.

Therefore I especially enjoy weeks like this when I met twice with friends for dinner. I discovered a very nice World-Café in the city near Stuttgart where I work, I prepared for the first time pizza for four people and I even got a bunch of spring flowers.

It’s only when you share moments with others that you really feel that life is always worth living.

Walking with Thich Nhat Hanh – The art of Mindful Living

For my 30th birthday Ursel sent me the book Touching Peace of the Zen Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh who created the Community Plum Village.

During the whole 2016 my mind was busy thinking about the meaning of the word Mindfulness. That Ursel gave me this book it was just a sign which indicated the importance of the concept of Mindfulness in my life. Recently I heard that the books you receive are never a coincidence and I think it is very true.

Reading Touching Peace was for me a great experience which made me feel a lot of good vibes. One of my favourite quotes of Hanh refers to the Christian values I grew up with: “To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now“.

Now I practice Mindfulness in my daily life. Indeed once a day I meditate with the App Calm (about which I will write a review in the next few weeks), I pray, I try to do something kind for an other person and appreciate to have something good in the fridge and to live in an multicultural and opened country like Germany.

To introduce you to the philosophy of the Zen Master Hanh, I share the trailer of a brand new film about him and his community, Walk with me.

You can find more details about this film and the Community of Plum Village on: http://walkwithmefilm.com/

Riflesso negli occhi

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Tag: Life