it says "and" not "or"

 

Apologies for the late posting today. Apparently TypePad is recovering from a DDoS hacking attempt which impacted authors' access to our blogs. (I guess this is a thing now, in the 21st Century.) TypePad is all over it though, and no information was lost or compromised.

 

When I read about -- or someone tells me about -- a "great new study" from X University about some Important Topic my initial reaction is usually something like: "Wow! I'm glad someone is studying that!" followed closely by "Wow! I bet that Study is really long and boring to read!"

Fortunately I can assure you that the link below may reference a Study, but it is neither long nor boring.

Brown University recently completed a study on Mindfulness Meditation, the results of which have been circulating around the news of late. To absolutely no one who studies meditation's surprise, the results add to an already impressive body of concrete, scientific evidence as to its positive effects on a person's health.

The link will take you to a page summarizing the Study, with simple definitions of terms and a few commonly asked questions. Beyond that -- and here is what I was excited to find and share here, and what I will be exploring myself -- are twelve links (including two for phone apps!) that take you to everything from examples to guided exercises.

The 11th Step of Alcoholics Anonymous, "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out" does not include the word "or." It does not say "prayer OR meditation" as if you can opt out of one by choosing the other. Yet I know any number of people who give themselves a pass on actively trying to develop a meditation practice.  I am certainly not perfect on this myself, but hopefully, if you're stuck for whatever reason, some things at the link below will help you either get started or get back on track.

Cheers!

Mr. SponsorPants

 

Mindfulness: Brown University

 

 

 

Comments

[Susan K]

I made the commitment to sit a few years ago, and set my alarm 20 minutes earlier. It's been a real game changer for me. Progress not perfection! I found out that my thoughts just wander by and I can choose which ones I play with. And I have learned to go back to the breath when I get wound up. It's very calming.

[Kaia T]

Thanks for this, Mr SP! I tried a guided meditation on Loving Kindness at one of the links - it was great.

I love browsing through your blog site. There are so many little treasures! Thanks for sharing them with us.