Contemporary Approaches to Lifestyle Management - Evaluation & Reflection on Mindfulness Life Skills - Essay Example

It was then I began to understand the impact of stress on human body (Chopra 1994). I felt that we all have a clock ticking in our heads. When we are stressed, this clock starts ticking at a very fast pace, thereby giving way to a feeling of rush and hurry (Chopra 1996). It is this sense of rush combined with daily pressures that takes a heavy toll on the body. However, as I further proceeded with my mindfulness training, I learnt that this slowed down the clock in my head and made me feel that I have ample time to do whatever I wanted to do (Chopra 1996).

Now I take this course very seriously. b. While being persistent with my mindfulness training in the last few days, I have learnt that it was my attitude to be perfect in everything I did, which was causing me a lot of stress and occasional headaches. However, as I am proceeding with my practice, I have realized that imperfection constitutes an essential part of the entire material phenomenon (Lama & Cutler 2005). If we take some time and care to observe, we will see that even those things, processes and people which we considered to be absolutely perfect do have some imperfections and flaws inherent in them.

This realization has changed my entire attitude towards life. Now when I get annoyed at anything that did not go right, I take a minute and make myself think that it is all right to be imperfect, as long as I am sincere in my efforts and intentions (Lama 2002). What makes me really laugh is that I am also amply imperfect in my mindfulness training, the very thing that taught to me this secret of imperfection. I am also getting more patient and tolerant with others. I am developing the ability to take lightly the flaws and imperfections in myself and others.

This tolerance for imperfection prevents me from getting stressed up and angry. c. Mindfulness has taught to me one big secret and that is that the human mind simply cannot think about two things at one time (Peale 2004). While being engaged in sitting meditation I found that though many thoughts and emotions rushed into my mind, it never happened that my mind delved on two thoughts or feelings at one time. This insight which I gained during the mindfulness training, I also found it to be relevant in my academic and professional life.

I realized that I got stressed not because I was not able to do some things, but, rather I got stressed because I used to worry about not being able to do those things, while I was actually doing those things (Chanchaochai 2006). So now when I am studying or engaged in some practical procedure, I try to keep my mind focused on that task. Many thoughts and feelings do come into my mind at that time, but I allow them to be there, without letting I think or worry about them. I know that either I can do a job, or can worry about that job, but, certainly I cannot do both these things together.

This realization will certainly help me a lot in my academic and professional life. d. As I gradually became more interested in mindfulness training, I began to read many books besides my course material, on this subject. In one book I learnt that while practising sitting meditation, one could also specifically focus on attributes like love, compassion, and forgiveness (Ricard 2010). So in my future meditation sessions I made it a habit to bring into my mind the faces of those people who made me angry