See the Colors of Life

 The Power Of Being In The Moment

 To notice the change in yourself and around you in every moment   of life with all reality... To live the moment by noticing it moment to   moment... To see the thoughts passing through your mind, to   perceive the feelings you experience as what they are... To be   able to stay alone with them without naming, judging or reacting to   any of them while doing so. In fact, this is a natural ability, which is   weakened as our evolving minds become continuously thinking   about other things. Being a new trend in the world, “natural mindfulness” describes how to be aware of, comprehend and strengthen our ability.

If we consider this ability as a weakened muscle, as “mindfulness” practices strengthen your muscle, the ability to be in the moment you are and to live that moment develop and it provides clarity and clearness in your mind. In this way, you get the chance to realize your purpose in life, and the behaviors that will transform you. The power of living the moment as moment to moment increases. These moments sometimes allow you to capture a beauty that you have not noticed, and peace of mind, and sometimes to better manage the challenges and stressful moments.

Although the word “stress” is partially a new word, it actually exists in human life from the very beginning. Thousands of years ago, the caveman also stressed and showed the same physical reactions to stress. Even if he had shown same reactions, the naturally evolved human life is quite different from our ancestors living in caves. The hustle and bustle of modern life, the ordeal of traffic, the difficulties being experienced in education and business life, the terrific news we watch, the economic picture, our relations with our relatives contain intense stress. Although the impacts of stress on us are the same as our ancestors; we live the life faster, and we cannot set aside time for ourselves to recover after all the stressful moments..

“Mindfulness” help you to build your own cave. Imagine that you’re stuck in the traffic for a moment. You’re in the car, but your mind goes back and forth between what you plan to do tomorrow, what you need to do when you go home and what the announcer tells you on the radio. You feel imprisoned, bored and desperate. You dream of reaching your destination as soon as possible, but the road does not end. You decide that this traffic jam consumes your life and you need to leave the city. Imagine also this: You feel the same things again. But you direct your attention to the experience you are living, instead of reacting. You realize, as much as you can, that your hands are tight, your shoulders taut and up, you have difficulty in breathing, and you relax them. You remind yourself that the traffic will end like everything else in life. Perhaps, you feel good to notice the details even under this distressed condition, and you find yourself thinking that you are lucky that you are healthy and alive. You direct your attention to your breath, and the thoughts in your mind and your feelings again.

Now you have experienced “mindfulness”, i.e., to notice every detail of the moment you live, to perceive the thoughts in your mind and your feelings as what they are, and to live them without naming them. It will make you feel better and different than the previous traffic experiences for sure. By your mindfulness ability strengthened through mindfulness practices, you can overcome the challenges in your life easier, and improve yourself in focusing, attention, clarity, creativity. More importantly, you can develop behaviors that will transform your life. For this transformation, five-day silence retreats and eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction programs ensure a highly supportive start.