Issue 7 - A Beautiful Mind

Hello and welcome to the seventh edition of my weekly email newsletter, Deep Life Reflections: Friday Five.

Each Friday, I share five things I’m enjoying, thinking about, and find interesting, which you might also find useful.

One important announcement: I’ve now built an archive section on my website for all Deep Life Reflections. So if you’re a new subscriber, or want to read previous issues, click here.

Now, here’s this week’s Friday Five.

1. What I’m Reading

Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation In Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Mindfulness has been around for a long time and considered the heart of Buddhist meditation. Its popularity has soared in recent years in the western world, and I wanted to better understand what it really is, and if I could apply it myself. Jon Kabat-Zinn is a professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and defines mindfulness as: “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally.”

It’s a clear and practical guide, with considerable insight and wisdom. What I took most is that mindfulness is about attention and awareness, universal human qualities, and that through this process we can deepen them, refine them, and put them to greater practical use in our lives. By “tuning in” we can see much more of life and appreciate it more fully.

I’m only on the first step of this journey, but I can see why this practice has remained relevant for two and a half thousand years. In our full lives of today, we are still driven by an inner quest to live in harmony with ourselves and the wider world. I’d be interested to hear of any mindfulness practices that have worked for you.

2. What I’m Watching

Stranger At The Gate (2022). Directed by Joshua Seftel.

An excellent recommendation from one of my readers (thanks, Asha). Stranger At The Gate was one of this year’s Academy Award Nominees for Best Documentary Short Film. It documents the story of Mac McKinney, a U.S. Marine, damaged by his military experiences, who plots a terrorist attack on a small-town Indiana mosque. We meet Bibi and Zaki Bahrami, Afghan refugees, and other members of the mosque, who come face to face with their would-be terrorist and enemy. Things take an unexpected turn, and I recommend you take half an hour to watch the film this weekend, which is being streamed for free by The New Yorker. Watch here.

It’s a film about kindness, humanity, hope, courage, and transformation.

3. What I’m Contemplating

Awareness isn’t the same as thought. It lies beyond thinking, although it makes use of thinking. We all have thoughts, they ruminate in our mind, like a hamster wheel. And when we try to push these thoughts away, they come back with more resistance, like a beach ball. This is a hinderance to our wellbeing.

Instead, we can acknowledge the thought, laying out a welcome mat and labelling it. This way, we become an observer of our thoughts. This changes the dynamic: “just because I think it doesn’t mean it’s true.” It’s difficult and requires practice, but it can help us better manage our constant cascade of thoughts. This is the most valuable thing I’ve learned so far from mindfulness.

4. A Quote to note

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes

5. A Question for you

Are you aware of your thoughts ruminating around and around like a hamster wheel and/or pushing them away only to have them bounce back with more resistance, like a beach ball? If so, this is where you might consider some practice acknowledging these thoughts and moving to becoming an observer.

“I’m having a thought, but I am not that thought.”

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Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

James