Think Less get more out of life

You don't need to live in a cave to get the benefit of meditation.

Does the word meditation conjure up holy monks draped in orange robes, chanting mantras or living an isolated life high in the Himalaya?

The great news is us everyday folk with our busy lives, family, friends and bombardment of electronic devices, can experience inner peace too.

Meditation Skills Teacher and Relaxation Therapist Elaine Doyle says "If we just take the time to slow down and learn meditative relaxation skills that are fundamental life. Practice them regularly even if we can only find 10 minutes a day. We can break the cycle of stress. We can start to become aware of the bombardment of our thoughts and how they obscure the reality of our lives. It is truly amazing that we can actually get more done and do it better, enjoy better relationships when we think less! The trick is being able to be aware of our thoughts, it's the first step in eliminating self destructive and limiting thinking patterns.



Think about when you hop out of the shower in the morning. We are all trying to save water and don't want to leave the tap dripping. But what if you were in a rush and didn't turn the tap off fully and the tap was slowly dripping, wasting all that valuable water. You could liken it to wasting your resources. Lots of things are happening in your home during the day, it's busy and you don't notice or hear that shower dripping. Like the many thoughts that are racing around in our minds all day which don't allow us to pay attention to what really matters. At the end of the day when the mayhem in the house has quieten down and you sit or lay in stillness you hear that shower dripping and immediately give it your full attention by, in this instance turning it off to save water. Our minds are a lot like this example when we practice even simple meditations we can quieten the mayhem of thoughts that wiz through our minds and find stillness we can address what is important and not waste our valuable resources. Yes we can live a more productive life with clarity and contentment by thinking less!"

Mind and its potential

Attended the "Mind and its Potential" conference in Sydney Dec 2-3.  What an amazing experience that was, so positive and energizing. It brought experts from all fields of science, medicine, psychology, education and tibetan Buddhism together to explore the amazing potential of the mind.  We learnt how the mind works, how to improve the way we think, how to avoid disease, explored the potential of neuroplasticity of the brain. There was so much information pitched a such a varied audience, it would have been quite a challenge to present at this type of forum. 

But for me the most valuable aspect was how throughout the convention the re-occuring theme of how benificial to our minds meditation is  (in particular they concentrated on mindfulness meditation).  The supporting scientific proof of how meditation actually enables us to think clearly, think more effectively, control emotion and impulses and improves brain function and the physiological state of the brain. This came up time and time again in the presentations of all experts in their fields. 

Of course it was a pleasure to hear the Dalai Lama.  Although I thought the format of his session could have been organised better with more opportunity to hear from him.  Much of his session was spent as a "panel discussion" but ended up in the other pannelists doing much of the talking.  But his answers to some quite long winded questions were succinct and clear.  He has a way of stripping all the layers of complexity off our daily dialog and getting down to the source of what really matters, centered around love and compassion.  No wonder he is so popular, it should be so simple for us all to see things this way but our egos tend to cloud up the reality of life and we loose our way in the fog.

I made the most of the time there and attended everything.

Pre conference workshop - Alan Wallace
Post conference workshops - Dr martin Seligman  & Dr Paul Ekman
Also attended the Gala fundraising dinner for the "Lighthouse foundation"

The other deligates were friendly and motivational, the bookshop was excellent (my bag was really heavy on the way home!)

It was a stimulating and totally enjoyable conference.  Every presenter provided an aspect of expertise that validated my work as a relaxation therapist/meditation teacher.  Strong evidence was presented on the importance of the foundation of sound relaxation skills in ones life and how this builds to a foundation where regular mediation can have a profound effect on our minds in a positive way emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.   Cognitive self interventions also supported this effect.

The convention fueled a strong self belief in the positive outcomes of my course work and individual programmes to improve well being and be your best!

3 kids at the Show, minus the stress

Yesterday I took my 3 children ages 11, 10 & 6 to the Royal Melbourne Show. What an overwhelming place the showgrounds can be even for an Adult. So many things to see, the colours, the noises, the smells (some good, some not so good - like the poultry pavilion Phewww). Then there is the rides, how exciting which one to go on???? Why do they need to have their PA systems so loud and distorted that you can't even work out what they are saying? And their music so loud? It's physiologically stressful not enjoyable or enticing to go on the ride at all.

Then there is the main reason for a child to go to the show. THE SHOWBAGS. Yes packed full of all the things us mums deny our children all year. All that nasty environmentally unfriendly packaging. Individual lollies wrapped then put in a bag, which is inside another bag, inside a larger show bag.

Not to mention the cost of the day ........

I actually ended up really enjoying the day. How did I do that you may well ask, it could have been a potential stress "MELT DOWN ZONE"

Here are my tips:

• Preparation is the essential key.
• Buy the newspaper with the show bag guide a few days before the show starts.
• Tell the kids their limit on show bags, mine was one novelty & one lolly bag (they could pick which ever one they wanted)
• Highlight this on the guide AND TAKE IT WITH YOU.
• Do not deviate from this choice or buy extras (the extras will blow your budget)
• Feed the troops to capacity with healthy food at lunch before leaving, then its not so bad if they have some junk food there
• Bring a water bottle, keep well hydrated. Our brains do not function properly when we dehydrate (you need to be alert with 3 kids at the show!)
• Mix the "its all about me" activities up with watching some of the events, viewing & patting the animals, that's what the show is really about, share with your children your amazement in the skill involved with events and displays eg. "wow look at that, or how do they do that, or look at the work in that".
• Don't forget to sit down - take breaks, its OK to rest

Remember the fun and amazement you had back when you were young a the show, re live this through your children's eyes.

Elaine Doyle

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my blog. Here you will be able to read insights on how you can minimise stress in your life, to be healthier, happier and your best.

I look forward to hearing from you too. Feel welcome to post me comments.

Elaine Doyle