Last year I met John Foster when he took my three-part vegan lifestyle class. Since then we have stayed in touch and I have been a witness to his profound personal and professional journey. Today I am honored to share his incredibly thoughtful post, and vegan quick tips, on how to begin a mindfulness practice.
Imagine you’re on Family Feud and the host is asking you, “Out of 100 people surveyed, what are the top five non-physical things people want out of life?” What do you think one of the primary answers would be?
Do you have it in mind? Or maybe a couple things?
Was happiness at the top of the list?
Even if your answers were things such as close relationships, health, or an enjoyable job, you can probably see how all these things relate to happiness in some way.
The truth is, we all want happiness! One of spirituality’s primary aims is to create it and pretty much everyone is searching for it, trying to buy it, or hiring someone to give them the secret.
The crazy thing is this…..
YOU DON’T HAVE TO LOOK FOR IT 🙂
It was right in front of us all along, sitting there, literally begging us to see it. The world wants us to be happy more than anything! Why?
Well, how many unhappy people do you know who have changed your life for the better?
The reality is that happy people are changing the world, and the universe is begging you to find your own happiness, so that you can give your contribution!
Here is some more great news. In today’s age, happiness is becoming more of a science than ever before, and one of the primary practices behind finding happiness in the here and now is through mindfulness.
Mindfulness, cultivated through practices such as meditation and yoga, is simply the practice of training your brain to pay attention to what is right in front of you, rather than being caught up in thoughts, emotions, and notions of past and future.
How many times have you turned on the computer, with a certain agenda in mind, and an hour later you forgot your initial intention, not to mention surfed through a lot of worthless information and wasted your valuable time?
Or how many times have you woken up to a negative emotion and then let that emotion attract more negative thoughts and emotions to create a bad day? This is the very essence of why bad things happen in cycles!
But what if we could break that cycle? Wouldn’t that be awesome?
Well, I’m here to ask you to begin a mindfulness practice and also to show you how to do it.
First of all, commit ten minutes a day to complete silence. Whether you have to lock your office doors, find a few minutes just after you put your baby down for a nap, or create an entire space in your house completely devoted to your personal peace, create the intention, RIGHT NOW, to start a mindfulness practice. Trust me, it will change your life and you, in turn, will change the world, even if it is just one person at a time. Happiness spreads!!!! I call it the Happiness MLM.
Pay it forward my friends!
So what next? Here is a simple list to start a basic mindfulness practice. I’ve been doing this simple practice for the past ten years, and it has changed me completely. It has put me here in front of you now.
Vegan Quick Tips from John Foster: Start a Mindfulness Pracice
- Find a quiet space where you won’t be interrupted
- Sit straight up in a chair or a meditation cushion, if you have one (For years, I used to just stack two pillows underneath me on a carpet or rug.)
- Keep your eyes open and look down (this accesses the kinesthetic centers of your nervous system and helps you in the next step)
- Feel your breath move in and out
- After each breath cycle, simply count 1, then 2, up to 10
- After you reach 10 start over
- Finally, try to feel the sensation of each breath as fully as possible, from the inside. Don’t look at the breath but literally BE the breath. Can you feel the aliveness in each moment?
Vegan Quick Tips on JLgoesVegan.com
Lastly, for those of you who like things really simple, here is a 3 step meditation:
- Sit up straight
- Breathe
- Smile
John Foster is the founder of Life Warrior Coaching in Denver, Colorado. He teaches people how to create peace, happiness, purpose and love, for this present moment, first in their life and then how to find things such as weight loss, health, and strength as bi-products of a happy and purposeful life. www.lifewarriorcoaching.com
