•
Pick a consistent time to practice every day
•
Let your meditation be like play
•
Make your
life
your practice
•
Practice the 3-minute rule – just
start
and see what happens
•
Find a meditation teacher
•
Join a meditation group
•
Go on a retreat
•
Read inspiring books
Some participants are confused by the broad range of techniques they’ve learned and wonder how
they should practice formal sitting meditation. Each meditator is encouraged to be his or her own
teacher and ask during meditation, “What do I need now?” “What’s calling me?” For example:
•
Do I need to calm and stabilize my attention with more breath awareness?
•
Do I need to loosen my grip on the breath by feeling
all
body sensations or listening to sound?
•
Do I need to warm up my meditation with loving-kindness and compassion?
The main topic of this final session of the MSC program is “embracing your life”, ending the
program on a positive note. As Rick Hanson
says, “we’re like Velcro for bad experiences but
Teflon for positive ones”. That’s because our default mode network is focused on ensuring our
survival by identifying and resolving problems, but if we wish to be happy, we also need to savor
the positive aspects of our lives. An example of a savoring exercise is the Pleasure Walk
introduced during the retreat. Negative emotions manage to narrow our attention, which is a useful
adaptation to face danger head-on, whereas positive emotions broaden attention and help us to
identify unforeseen opportunities
. Research on savoring is presented
as well as the need
for positive intentional activity – what we do, how we think and how engaged we are in our lives –
that can substantially raise our happiness level
There are two class exercises in session 8. In the first one, participants are invited to reflect on 2 or
3 personal qualities that they appreciate about themselves, and also to consider the people who
helped them develop those special personal qualities. The key is that instead of thinking about
what makes them “special and above average”, people are encouraged to embrace the shared
human experience of special strengths. We all have good qualities as well as weaknesses, and by
appreciating our good qualities instead of taking them for granted, we can be kinder, more
supportive and encouraging to ourselves – just as we’d be with a good friend.
In the second exercise of session 8, each group member receives a piece of bittersweet chocolate
(60%-70% cocoa) and is invited to take three bites, tasting the bitterness, the sweetness and then
the combination of bitterness and sweetness. The symbolic message is that bad and good, bitter
and sweet, always come together. Our process of perception works by contrasts: we know dark
because we see light; we know a rock is hard because our toe is soft. Therefore, to live fully in our
own skin, we need to embrace
all
aspects of ourselves with mindful, compassionate awareness.
We’re only living half of our lives, and missing many opportunities to learn, if we skip the
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