Mindfulness Meditation in Sarasota

"Mindfulness means paying attention 
in a particular way:
on purpose,
in the present moment,
and non-judgmentally."
~Jon Kabat-Zinn

 

Yesterday I had a bit of a frazzling experience while receiving massage from a friend. Halfway through the session as a result of some of the things we were chatting about she started loudly "addressing" some personal gripes she had with some things I do. I had on other occasions corrected her misperceptions of those subjects, and it became very apparent that she is still clinging to her initial interpretation. She excused what she was (un)consciously doing by saying she wasn't "awake yet" so she wouldn't experience the immediate ramifications of what she was doing. She lost track of what she was doing massage-wise, and consequently my front upper body received 3 vigorous massages in a two hour period. I allowed this to continue for that length of time to (hopefully) enable her to get it out of her system, but then it was time for me to go home and get ready for my first visit to Sarasota Mindfulness Institute for their 6:00 - 7:15 Group Meditation. I received great benefit from being in this quiet, supportive atmosphere and environment. I will have to address the situation with my friend one way or another next time we get together, but I want to do this in a mindful, diplomatic way. One of the women in the meditation group said that in a previous meditation someone had said that they realized that "not all their thoughts were true". So true! Another quote I have seen that i love is "You don't have to believe everything you think."

Cotton Linen Buckwheat filled Zafu