So hello,
This is the second day of the series A Mindful Life.
Who's this in the shower with me?
I'll get out of your head and start living.
And this story is called Retro Mindfulness,
The Forgotten Art of Pausing.
So as in the first session,
I will read the story.
There'll be a short commentary and then we'll end with a short meditation.
Most people will remember or be familiar with vinyl albums or long playing records.
If you were not around when they were,
Then you probably know about them.
They are apparently making a comeback.
I used to sell second-hand records in the early 1980s when I was a trader,
So I remember them very fondly indeed.
Vinyl albums normally have six to seven tracks on both sides.
When you played them,
There was a pause in between each track.
Nothing except the occasional crackle.
The next track would play,
Then another pause.
Another gap before the next one.
Then around the middle of the 1980s,
Compact discs came out.
I remember thinking at the time that the pauses,
The space between the tracks,
Were shorter than on the vinyl albums.
However,
I didn't think I was onto something really significant and forgot all about it.
Now we have digital music and,
Lo and behold,
We have music without any pauses,
Without any gaps between the tracks.
So all those years ago,
I was onto something significant.
What I mean is the change from albums to CDs.
From CDs to digital represents another change.
A change in both our minds and our lives.
In the days of vinyl albums,
I believe our lives had more pauses in them.
Our minds had more space in them.
It seems nowadays that most people are so very busy,
Their lives full of activity and their minds are full of constant chatter.
This can lead to a very restless existence for most of us.
If we have a busy mind,
We will have a restless life.
If you have a busy life,
You will have a busy mind.
I'm not talking about genuine work here,
But the tendency to remain busy or just being restless.
For example,
Even when the job is done,
We can so easily look for the next thing to occupy ourselves.
It may be calling a friend,
Cleaning the car,
Emailing and texting,
Anything at all,
So long as we don't stop and experience ourselves.
Blaise Pascal,
The French philosopher,
Said that the root of human problems is because we cannot sit quietly in a room by ourselves.
That was in the 17th century.
How much more true it is today.
I often begin my mindfulness courses and meditation retreats talking about this very thing.
I have an old vinyl album as a prop.
I make sure we don't rush through the material just to fill our heads with information.
Like the album,
We have pauses,
We have gaps in our sessions.
Gaps where there is just silence,
Like the gaps between the tracks.
Mindfulness or meditation is not only about information,
But about the practice itself,
Which is done in silence.
We have breaks and even during the teaching,
We will have pauses and silence.
I give a teaching,
I present an idea,
Then we will be quiet,
Allowing the idea to percolate.
Initially,
People find this a little odd,
But it's surprising how they come to appreciate it.
Teaching meditation is like throwing a pebble into a pond.
We throw a pebble and often we throw in another pebble,
Before that one has settled,
And another,
And another.
In this way,
The mud never settles,
The pond remains cloudy.
But if we wait a while,
Allow the idea to be absorbed,
Then it can be understood and hopefully make a difference to a person's life.
Because they have absorbed it.
So what do we need to do about this?
Well,
We need to go retro.
We can bring back pauses and space back into our lives.
Our minds and bodies are not made to be on the go constantly.
So if possible,
Learn to pause during the day,
Not to achieve something or attain something,
But just because it's good for us.
Practice this.
One way of doing this is just to ask yourself,
What is happening right now?
This question is like turning on a light switch.
Notice your breath.
Feel your breath.
Particularly the end of the out-breath.
Lengthen the out-breath by a second or two.
Just feel it come and feel it go.
You can do this for as little as 30 seconds,
Or sit down and do it for three minutes.
You can even do it on the go,
If you can't stop what you're actually doing.
Doing this several times a day can help bring just a little more clarity and sanity into our lives.
So,
That's the end of the story.
So,
Pausing.
It's sort of,
For me,
Such a beautiful way to live.
Such a simple and elegant way to live,
Actually.
And it's an absence of doing.
It's not cramming something else in.
We used to have natural pauses.
I don't know what it's like where you live,
But in the UK,
When we used to make tea,
We used to put the tea bag in a teapot,
Fill it with water and wait for four or five minutes.
Then people used to sit down and drink it.
Now you wave a tea bag,
Dip a tea bag into a cup of water and down it,
On the go.
I remember going into a large company to teach them mindfulness a while back,
And it was lunchtime.
And I was walking through the offices,
All open plan,
And those people,
Bless them,
You know,
Sitting there,
Typing with one hand and eating a sandwich with another.
And the company are getting me in to teach them mindfulness.
Make people take their breaks.
Allow them to take their breaks or make it mandatory.
You need to take a break.
You need to have a lunch break.
And so,
Bringing back pauses.
It's coming back to now,
The felt experience of just being alive,
Instead of being in mind,
Which is always about something.
About,
About,
About.
What have I got to do?
What's wrong?
What do I need to do to,
You know,
Micromanage my life?
How about just coming out of the mind?
And just pausing.
Either just standing,
Looking around,
Sitting,
Just feeling your contact with the chair,
Your feet on the floor.
Just doing nothing.
So let's just do that for three or four minutes.
Let's just pause.
I will drop in a few words.
Don't even need to sit in meditation posture.
So,
As you are,
Just feel your contact with the floor or the surface you're sitting on.
You can notice any sounds.
You may notice how the mind wants to get your attention.
Just decline that invitation.
And back here with life as it really is.
The sound of the traffic,
The sun on your face,
Whatever.
I'll have a few moments of pausing to allow you to tune in.
Just feel the breath.
Just feel your hands resting in your lap or by your sides.
Nothing to achieve.
Just being here.
Okay,
So that's just a very simple pause.
Nothing complicated,
No bells and whistles.
Just pausing with life as it is,
Engaging the senses.
And you can do that any time of the day,
Anywhere.
You can do it in the checkout queue.
You can do it walking up the stairs,
Wherever.
Just bring back pauses.
Come back to life.
Come to your senses back here.
What's happening here?
Okay,
Thank you very much.
Bye-bye.
