‘The Art of Tree Planting is Soil Preparation’

Landscape Gardener c2009

Making It Easier!

If you are reading this page it is likely that some difficulties have arisen, either for you or for someone that you work with/care about. 

When finding a solution seems difficult or even impossible, the first task is to find a viable starting point.

The most basic starting point is to ask, 'Is my way of seeing/thinking about this creating my sense of impossibility? If so, how so?

If we believe that what we seek is too difficult/impossible, no amount of strain is going to lead to the success that we are seeking. It is better to let it go and do something else.

If we believe that what we seek is possible, then strain is not necessary and is likely to be an obstacle. In a mental task, especially, strenuous effort does not help to get the job done. It gets in the way. So, relax first!

From this perspective, we can approach any question - not from its point of difficulty but - from the starting-point of ways of clarifying what we are seeking and allowing creative solutions to enter our awareness.

And, what are our most fundamental resources?

Our mind, our body and our intelligent awareness, of course!

Our mind and body are complex faculties with phenomenal capabilities, most of which are at our service without our even being aware of them. The more we appreciate them, the more they can do their work while we enjoy its benefits! Our question then becomes one of, ‘How can we best to prepare our mind and body for creative solutions to take shape?’

Our intelligent awareness needs no preparation or work. It goes beyond what we think we know, is always there, our quietly-available home base when we are uncertain in the current situation; a sanctuary from confusion, and conflicting opinions and ideas. It is what gets us out of the way in instance in oncoming traffic, and ready in the next moment to continue on our way.

We just have to begin accessing it with an appreciation and willingness to learn. That's all it takes to begin discovering it is capable of more than we believe possible. We can do so in simple ways: pausing to allow stillness; even in brief moments, taking a moment of awareness to breathe, taking our time to respond from awareness, not reaction on the same level as the problem. The more we allow its point of balance to inform our everyday thinking, the more life surprises us with inspirations and creative developments. No matter what the current difficulty. 

Preparing for Ease and Clarity in Study/Work/Life

Without inspiration, our intellect and body – however well-read or exercised - operate with the strain of disorientation and counter-force friction. The satisfaction that we seek eludes us; even moments of success are tinged with ‘buts’.

As we decide to accomplish with inspiration, there are simple ways that we can cultivate the conditions that allow it to happen. The pointers that follow begin working immediately in subtle ways when we put them into practice; the more consistent we become in doing so, the more distinct the effects. 

The links below are to resources that offer viable ways to for calming the mind and caring for the body. Some are free and some require a small purchase. They offer starting points for extending your exploration of life's possibilities. As you explore, you will find your own viable pathways and inspiring sources for going further. 

All the resources listed here imply some form of STRUCTURE, whether in terms of rhythm, frequency, good posture or in the physical structures that we commonly understand. This is because in order for your ideas to work in practice, your mind and body need to work with basic reliable structures to enable them to organise and coordinate viable responses. Thus, some basic attention to structure is one of the easiest and most profitable elements to invest in, repaying with infinite rewards.

Put in the most basic terms: 

• For your MIND to be able to offer you clarity and dexterity, it needs reference points in stillness, structure and integration.
• For your BODY to be eager to sustain work, it needs basic care, including appreciation, movement, rest and nourishment. Our movement finds its precision against a background of stillness.

Stillness

• Quiet and Breathing: Taking 15-20 minutes each day, preferably before you start your day, you may sit or lie down in a comfortable position- rest your thoughts and focus on your breathing. This is transformative in itself and it’s easy and it’s free! With this, things become easier and easier, with new and inspiring ideas occurring to you naturally.
• Guided Meditations:
  • Consistently raising mood with a few minutes at the beginning of your day and/or before you sleep allows you the security of calm and clarity on which to build.
  • If you are a beginner, guided meditations that refer to the body as a frame of reference is a sound approach. There are many teachers offering books, podcasts, apps and videos now available with guidance to wisdom practices. Trusting your own intuitions about what you feel ready for at any given time is a valuable in the learning process.
    • Yoga Meditative Practices: eg, Sadhguru app isha.sadhguru.org/mobile-apps/- including improving Focus, Health, Success, Peace, Love;
    • Upa Yoga: Neck Practices: Yoga Neck Practices or full video, Full Video- All Practices
    • Non-Duality Teachings: eg, Rupert Spira for steady explanation of subtle ideas. There are many others, and it is worth exploring multiple perspectives as part of your learning about your learning journey. 
    • Qigoing Practices for Beginners
      
      • There are also free resources with basic practices on the Shi Heng Yi website
    • Learning how to meditate: Waking Up App
    • Sound-Frequencies Qi Music Meditation for Balance: Himalayan Singing Bowls [ASMR]

Appreciation

• Appreciation for our body is a vital starting point. The source of obstacles in our lives are evident in our attitude towards our body;
• Sleep – sufficient for you to feel fresh and rested;
• Movement – even a few minutes of movement stimulates and coordinates your mind and your body;
• Posture – even basic awareness of good posture has subtle effects;
• Fluids – preferably water, not stimulants;
• Food – nutrition relative to your bodily needs;

Ergonomics

Raising awareness of posture when working at a computer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riD8Xt8r1MQ 

Mind Training

The following are some basic ideas and exercises for developing your natural abilities.

Your Focus – The cardinal principle around focus is that how you use it has consequences. Focusing in opposition to desire, whether it is in opposition to your desire or someone else's works against your realisation of your desire. Focusing in the direction of your desire allows its realisation. 

Your moment-to-moment attention is one of your most powerful assets. When you observe something unwanted, you can utilise it to define more clearly what you DO want, releasing the 'buts'. If there is a 'but' you can reformulate the desire, clarifying it further. eg, 'I desire a blue coat but no buttons.' can be reformulated to 'I desire a blue coat with a zip.'

Your mental action is creating your experience of reality. So you have more choice in this than you may be aware of. So, if you find yourself repeating thoughts of obstacles or problems without progress, as a first step, you can pause, take a slow, deep inhale and exhale.

This allows your attention to refocus in other directions, rather than our mind to reorient its action away from bringing them to you. The more you focus in accord with desire, the more quickly your mental responses will follow your new choices. 

Your Mood - You have more influence than you think. You can set your mood for raising capability – Short, Funny and Informative Ted Talk

Your Imagination - Imagination is our ability to see beyond what our strictly physical senses tell us. It is vital for accessing the resourceful thinking that we need for learning, working or responding to new situations and having joy in life. This can be discouraged in the process of growing older. Exploring how to develop it well is worth the effort. 5 + 1 exercises

Your Action - Develop your ability to put your (best) ideas into action - see the exercise of giving yourself an instruction to carry out. 6 Basic Exercises

Your Attention Span - Extend your ability to hold your attention - see 1st exercise for contemplating any object for 5 minutes.  6 Basic Exercises

Your Body, Perceptual Organisation and Functional Integration

Integration of the subtle operations of mind and body significantly enhances your ability to access to your intelligent awareness for generating ideas and put them into practice. 

ROMBi

ROMBi puzzle is an exceptional aid for study-work-life, especially for those who have experience difficulties with perceptual organisation. 

It has been custom-designed to address basic foundations of issues with concentration, clarity, reading, writing, comprehension, coordination, organisation of ideas, communication, confusion/anxiety, putting ideas into practice, overwork and more. It can also be used in situations of stroke to assist proprioception. 

A few minutes a day of structured handplay has surprisingly profound effects, including taking the strain out of many tasks; bringing structure, precision, stability, greater ease and effectiveness to diverse forms of work. It allows a working through issues with space and time/ perceptual organisation/functional integration/information processing.

Handling the blocks, and correlating them to the puzzle patterns, following the process through perceptual obstacles enables is precisely what makes their dissipation possible. This aids concentration, brings calm, clarity and structure and ease in tasks involving study, work, parenting, domestic chores, and even relationships. 

It is particularly effective in reducing exam stress, making it possible to think with greater clarity, revise more effectively read with greater comprehension, articulate and organise ideas, organise time more effectively, and more. 

ROMBi can be used within the context of specialist strategic tutorials / coaching / mentoring / therapy, as well as for  independent work/study for extending capabilities. For further information: ROMBi

Next level structured handplay: 

• If you are able to do physical jigsaw puzzles, you may wish to use tangrams for daily exercise in structured handplay. 
• If you are unable to do physical jigsaw puzzles, then ROMBi play is a way to develop your dexterity to be able to move to the next level.

Jigzone

As indicated above, jigsaw puzzles aid concentration, focus attention, bring calm and clarity for ease of study. Although the physical/tactile version achieves more, these can get you started and students find them very useful and accessible.

Digital puzzles tend to be more addictive, so it is likely that you will spend more time doing them, and that is a plus. Through this, you may discover that you still need the kind of further development that the physical puzzles, greater dexterity in physical space and putting your ideas into practice. If so, your ideas may be better organised, and so you may find it  easier to take the next step and decide to act in your own best interests after having practiced the digital puzzle play for a time.  www.jigzone.com

Ballgames

Taking bodily coordination a step further deepens the foundation for finding and sustaining good living, working/studying and playing.

Ball games are a very effective way of doing so. Offering immersive and interactive experience involving eye movements, fast bodily action that raises mood, improves focus, changes the attention point (to seeking optimal points of attention), coordination of mind and body, living in real time, holding your intention while handling changing perspectives. 

Football, Basketball, Tennis, Squash, Badminton all offer valuable coordinating effects of mind as well as body. 

If you feel that you need to start from a more basic starting point, these exercises may be of interest: Cognomovement