Cultivating Ongoing Vitality and Wellness

A mindfulness practice is taking time out to actively minimize distractions to engage in a process that can bring one into a state of presence.  Often the development of a mindfulness practice involves a trial of methods of the more popular variety such as meditation, yoga, time in nature, journaling, sound baths, breath work and retreats.  For some, it is focused time with family. It could be coffee or a walk with a friend, a weekend get-away, or a night out.  It can be anything that resonates with a deeply personal intention. The more one engages in their chosen practice, the more mindfulness expands, deepens and becomes as a way of life. 

"Mindfulness is an idea from Buddhism that's central to meditation, but it's also a way of life and a crucial tool in the art of creative transformation.  You don't just 'meditate' to become aware of your breathing, the sounds around you, your bodily sensations, or the existence of your core self that's not harried by an endless stream of thoughts.  You establish a practice of 'meditation' in order to develop the habit of mindfulness so that your awareness remains engaged when you leave the meditation cushion and go out into the world.  You're able to act consciously instead of unconsciously.  Developing mindfulness allows you to quickly and naturally become aware of what's really going on in any situation instead of being distracted by your thoughts, feelings and actions or resisting the truth in order to avoid suffering."

-Ronald A. Alexander, Ph.D.

"Focusing on the process of attention Kaplan and Kaplan (1995) have researched the restorative effects of the natural environment, resulting in 'Attention Restoration Theory'.  They undertook research which explored the psychological effects of being in both wilderness and nearby nature such as parks and woodland.  They studied the concept of voluntary and involuntary attention to understand how directed attention, which involves sustained concentration whilst holding other distracting tasks at bay (for example, whilst I am trying to write this at my computer I am wrestling with two distractions, whether I should make myself a cup of coffee or whether I should walk the dog), affects us on a psychological level.  They propose that these distractions have to be blocked out, and this causes tiredness and depletion in higher cognitive functioning.  Being in natural environments involves a different sort of cognitive functioning, indirect attention or what is termed soft fascination.  Soft fascination is maintained in an aesthetic and sensory contact with the natural world, by being away from the routines of our day-to-day life.  Through engagement with nature the psychological effect of fascination in relation to animals, birds, trees, plants and views is provided.  When the person partakes in compatible activities such as walking, bird-watching and fishing, this all leads to a feeling of well-being and a felt restoration of attention and capacity."

                            "Nature and Therapy", by Martin Jordan

The Process and Technique of Mindfulness Journaling…

Journal writing is “alchemy”, a process of transforming thought into insight which is a most formidable agent for healing and change.  It is especially powerful and empowering because the process is personally accomplished. It involves a written dialogue one has with one’s self. It is travelling inward to one’s innermost center and outside of usual thought patterns/conditioning/rigid structures of a fearful or doubting mind for answers. The most brilliant answers to the heart’s questions can emerge from our own wisdom, yet often the door to our own intelligence is unwittingly locked. As one practices journaling, they will find that connecting with one’s center eventually becomes a seamless process. Operating from one’s center becomes the norm.

To begin…

Draft one to three questions for yourself. Good questions move you. They connect you to the deeper and more meaningful questions you may be wondering about. The mind has a million questions…the heart has but a few. These questions will hopefully draw forth awareness for you/a glimpse of your innermost being which holds solutions never-before imagined, intricately suited for your healing and evolvement. Questions can woo you out of yourself, out of the rigidity and isolation of your mind, and bring you into deeper connection with all of LIFE! Let your questions and answers roam wild in the space of your consideration. Have them carry awe and willingness to ask, to listen, and to ask again to travel deeper than before.

If you find value to this journal technique, we can include it in your therapy. The hope is you will develop a deeply personal journaling practice that will expand your relationship with yourself. Entries will pertain the noticing/witnessing of your unique healing journey. I would be honored to walk you through it as you go.   

I offer something I wrote by way of a mindfulness practice I refer to as Nature Sessions...

"Zuma Canyon After The Woolsey Fire"

I have hiked Zuma Canyon almost daily over the last 2 years. I discovered it around the time we rescued a dog who needed a place to roam and charge. Little did I know it would be the start of my relationship with Nature. 

As the relationship developed and grew, I grew in kind. Nature’s instruction, initially abstract to my dulled senses, began to unlock the code to my stubborn and sometimes frightened heart. During my early visits my mind would wander as habit would have it through the usual dull corridors of exhausting thought. It was difficult for me to notice the vast universe of splendor and wonder springing forth from every square inch of the canyon. How did it elude me?  Lo and behold, Nature was on to this condition of mine. During moments of far-off thought something curiously meaningful in the physical surround would surprise and delight me into the moment. Animals were the first to bring me to attention. Eventually the way the sun would animate a tree with its rays of light would wake my soul. Stagnant thoughts turned to wonder, excitement and possibility fueling creative musings about meanings and purpose and love. To my astonishment, a feeling of deep belonging and acceptance began to be felt, even in my “solitude.”  My body began to relax over time. My head felt light. My chest open. I began my journey of becoming acquainted with my body and my mind as together in rhythmic wholeness. It was exhilarating. Was I coming into contact with that perpetually elusive experience of “presence?!!!”

I came to understand the importance of a daily practice, for the days I did not visit the canyon “presence” could be entirely eclipsed...

To my deep despair, Zuma Canyon was hard hit by the Woolsey Fire. It was one of the first places I rushed to see when the evacuation order had lifted. I wanted to run to it past the ominous posts marking ‘danger’ and ‘no trespassing.’  I would have to wait and wonder and fitfully dream for two long months about being there again.  I would often find myself driving by to check if the trail had yet been opened. Yesterday I went to check...

I hesitated at the trail’s head. My heart felt like it would break. My mind rapidly conjuring images of the fire to make sense of what I saw. Forward I went, searching for landmarks I had known so well such as trees who had sort of become companions. Careful in my each step, not wanting to cause any more injury to the canyon, I would press on compelled by the desire to connect with the canyon as deeply as before. In my grief I urgently wanted the canyon to know I knew what it had been through. In despair, Nature messaged me. It was just like old times!  The sun began, notifying me of it’s presence with the most penetrating warmth so needed after many days of cold rains and a sky darker than usual as the storm threatened even more catastrophic hurt to Malibu. I don’t think I have ever seen the sun glimmer so brilliantly as it did on the water of the babbling, ole Malibu-style creek.  I think I was bearing witness to a hope dance choreographed by the sun and water. They seemed to be sending notes of encouragement to their friends the trees, so bare and black. The canyon’s soul was present. There was a  superficial difference but nothing could change it’s spirit.  The surprise came to me as yet another heart, mind and body unifying experience of conscious presence brought about by this relationship I continue to develop with Nature and Zuma Canyon. #ever-present #zumacanyon #gratefultobeback

~Melissa

“Zuma Beach On A Winter’s Eve”  

We played in a mountain river at the sea. Another encounter with nature communicating its experience of the fire. It’s brilliant artistry is a gift to awaken my senses. My heart opens and I rise into my grief traveling deeper and further into a healing that I have never quite known. My moonrise-filled heart is in a moment whole, courageously enabling me to talk to a private ache from the fire. I discover it is also an entry point, a portal, into my earliest, most private hurts to be importantly recognized for healing. My sunset-lit heart bids the darkness adieu. I move into the night strengthened and alive. It’s all so different after the fire. 

~Melissa

From WISE MIND : OPEN MIND : FINDING MEANING AND PURPOSE IN TIMES OF CRISIS, LOSS & CHANGE. 

    Author RONALD A. ALEXANDER, PH.D. 

"Whatever your vocation, you, like all people, are an artist, and your masterpiece is your own life.  In my many years as a therapist, I've found that most people wish they could be an actor, painter, singer, or other type of artist, and I encourage them to find ways to express themselves in the arts, because I believe that all creativity is vitalizing.  However, I tell my clients they don't have to be Mick Jagger to be a performer or Andy Warhol to be a painter, and in fact, even if they never sing a note or pick up a paintbrush, they can be artists of their own lives.  Artistic aspirations are often a metaphor for the desire to live more creatively and authentically, according to the dreams of the soul instead of the expectations of society.  We admire the great artists, because they have the ability to tune in to their inner passions and give birth to beauty, only to reinvent themselves again and again.  Their mastery of the art of creative transformation inspires us.

But any of us, no matter what we do or how we define ourselves, can master this art.  Artistic expression can take many forms, from playing guitar in a rock-and-roll band to parenting in a fresh and original way."