I was sitting in a 3rd class sleeper carriage on a train that must have been built in the 1960’s. I’m on Sakhalin Island in Eastern Russia and I’m trying to get to the north of the Island. It’s 3am and I can’t sleep so I decide that now would be a great time to meditate. So, I sit up check my posture and begin to breathe. At first I am overcome by sadness. I’m on the other side of the world from the United Kingdom and I really miss my family already. My beautiful wife and 3 lovely children are all at home wondering why I have to go away for another six weeks. Then the conversations start. Why am I doing this, I should be at home, 5 days to get to work is rediculous, I’m so tired already and I haven’t even started work yet. My mind was wondering all over the place, but as soon as I became aware of it, I would come back to my breathing again. And this is where I was able to notice a different emotion. When I really thought about it (which I probably shouldn’t have been doing because that is a distraction in itself) I realized, “hey, take a look at where you are right now”. Your traveling all over the world, I have an exciting job, I’m providing for my family and at the end of the day, life is pretty good. It could certainly be a lot worse.Yet I find it so easy to dwell on the negative influences of my life. Surely, this little meditation session is a great introduction to the power of emotions and how they affect my outlook on life. Hmmm.

So is this one of the important parts of reprogramming my mind for success? Recognizing my emotions and focusing on the ones that benefit me the most. I wonder?????

I cant wait for the next session. This is so good.

Until then, take care.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Ginbey

Another very important point that was mentioned tonight was our ability to pass judgement and criticise. By this I mean the way it is so easy to punish ourselves if we don’t do something right. An example of this could be where you call yourself a bad meditator, just because your mind wanders all the time. Passing judgement has absolutely NO benefit in the world of Mindfulness Meditation.

I also found I had to concetrate more this session compared to last week. It is a longer session at 1hr 20 minutes (including the commentary) so I really had to work at staying focussed. Having said that I walked away feeling good so I look forward to the next session.

Until then, STAY TUNED……..

Yours truly,

Stuart Ginbey

Reprogramming Your Mind For Success

I guess I should start by explaining what I understand Mindfulness Meditation to be. I see it as one of the many different forms of meditation and one that focusses on being aware of the present moment. In its Buddhist context, mindfulness meditation has three purposes: knowing the mind; training the mind; and freeing the mind. The first stage is about ‘The Noise’. Knowing what it is that makes your mind so busy all the time. This is the clutter that keeps us getting distracted from the task at hand. Once we understand what we are looking for, it is easier to clear it out. The next step is ‘Training The Mind”. This is where I will literally train my mind to operate in a way that benefits me the most. Just like anything else in life, in order to improve, I need to step out of my comfort zone and put in the extra effort.

So I invite you to join me on this little journey of self discovery. I will be meditating a minimum of 3 times per week for atleast 20 minutes per session and I will share the experience with you. I will talk about how it felt, was it relaxing, what was I distracted by, and whether I found it difficult. Hopefully, by the end of the 6 weeks, we will see some sort of progression.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Ginbey

Reprogramming The Mind For Success