mindfulness – Gratitude Habitat

Living In Gratitude: What is Grateful Living?

May 20, 2021/in Living In Gratitude /by Carol Adamski

Grateful living is important in the world because, in our constant pursuit of more and better, we can easily lose sight of the riches that lay right in front of us and within us. ~ Guri Mehta

Imagine walking on a beach just before sunset. The sand is silky and warm as it slides gently between your toes. A mild breeze arises, caressing your face and gently ruffling your hair. You inhale deeply, feeling the cool salt air fill your lungs as the clouds explode in a riot of pink, orange, and purple. Waves make fingers of foam on the sand that reach out to lovingly tickle your toes. A slight smile curls your lips as you take it all in – the air, the sand, the vibrant sky, the soothing sound of the waves – and exhale gratitude.

Grateful living is moving through every day in an ever-present, thoughtful manner. It’s noticing the abundance that surrounds us and mindfully being appreciative rather than taking things for granted or (un)consciously dismissing the beauty and blessings in life.

Living In Gratitude: The Value of Mindfulness

April 20, 2019/in Living In Gratitude /by Carol Adamski

Each of us makes an experience good or bad. The action or activity is what it is. We define it by our attitude toward it.

Traffic on the highway is heavy. We get impatient and annoyed.

We don’t get a promotion at work. We are hurt or upset.

Our child didn’t get first place. We are indignant.

Someone says something with which we disagree. We are offended.

Whatever the situation, our attitude defines that experience as either positive or negative. As humans, our inclination tends toward criticism and as such, much of our responses tend toward the negative. These less than favorable outlooks and our reactions to a situation creates tension in our bodies and mind. We have an internal dialog about how stupid, annoying, etc. it is, creating a story so immersive we distance ourselves from the actual experience.

Living In Gratitude: 11 Steps To A Purposeful Morning

July 15, 2017/in Living In Gratitude /by Carol Adamski

How we begin each day can set us up for success or can set us forth on a path of feeling frustrated, anxious and stressed.

How many of us wake to an alarm to only hit the snooze button again and again? Then when we final rise, we are already behind and feeling rushed.

Others of us make a point of checking social media, again discovering that our latest post didn’t get acknowledged with likes or comments. Now, not only are we feeling rushed but unappreciated and a touch insecure. Read more

Living In Gratitude: 6 Steps to Living in the Moment

July 30, 2016/in Living In Gratitude /by Carol Adamski

We live in an age of constant distraction. Every day, we are bombarded with a myriad of interruptions, which have only gotten more frequent thanks to ever-evolving technology. We can be consumed by self-consciousness, anxiety and stress. These disturbances often have us fretting about the future or contemplating past mistakes. They take us away from living in the present moment.

We’re living in a world that contributes in a major way to mental fragmentation, disintegration, distraction, decoherence. ~ Buddhist scholar B. Alan Wallace

Our thoughts often control us, “coursing through our mind like a deafening waterfall”. Buddists refer to it as the Monkey Mind, because our consciousness vaults from thought to thought like a monkey swinging from one tree to another. This inhibits our ability to live in and enjoy the present.

Mindfulness is when we learn to quiet our monkey mind and live in the moment in a state of “active, open, intentional attention on the present.” Being mindful allows us to observe our thoughts without judgment. Rather than letting our thoughts control us, being mindful awakens us to experience life in the here and now. Read more

Living In Gratitude: Finding Your Zen at Work

February 20, 2016/in Living In Gratitude /by Carol Adamski

When we know how to take care of our strong emotions and to establish good relationships at work, communication improves, stress is reduced, and our work becomes much more pleasant. This is a huge benefit not only to ourselves, but also to those we work with, to our loved ones, our families, and the whole of society. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Each of us spends a considerable amount of our daily lives at work and we should use this time to create a better world, challenge ourselves and creating a sense of personal growth and enjoyment.

Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, credited with being the father of mindfulness in the West, has developed a checklist to ensure that we stay in balance and are able to see our work in the context of creating a better world.

Here are Thay’s 15 practical steps to bring mindfulness to our work:

Living In Gratitude: Slow Down

October 31, 2015/in Living In Gratitude /by Carol Adamski

Sustained busyness is taking a toll on the quality of our lives and our relationships.

Free time.

Two words that most people, including children, are unfamiliar with and wish they had more of.

Our free time has been filled with work, errands, chores, extracurricular activities, social obligations, classes, projects…the list goes on. And to top it off, we are always connected. Thanks to technology, we are reachable at all hours, wherever we are, whatever we’re doing. All of these things can lead to feeling overwhelmed, stressed and irritable.

Being ‘on‘ all of the time, always rushing from one must-do task to another negatively affects our health and wellbeing along with our productivity, creativity and ability to focus. Our relationships can also suffer as we don’t have time to communicate and connect. The good news is, you can stop the ‘hamster on a wheel‘ mentality and slow down without falling behind. Read more