Acceptance brings awareness and clarity. Resitance brings confusion and frustration.

To accept means to simply acknowledge that things are as they are.

No judgement, approval or rejection.

Just pure awareness, in the moment.

Remember the spaciousness of your mind, how it can embrace all that is, without being thrown off balance.

Between the yes and the no, there is a point of contact where freedom beyond conditions abides.

It’s the home you have forgotten.

You can make the journey back to yourself, if you just dare to travel.

Daniela Andreescu | Mind Change Adventure | 10 17th, 2011 | No Comments »

Emotions are really moving. Go ahead and feel the emotion…

Disappointment or enthusiasm, sadness or joy, anger or love, it will move into something else.

Let go of the label you have been accustomed to stick on the movement.

Feel the energy, become aware of its coming and going.

Be alert to the information your deeper mind and inner voice conveys to you.

When you are mindful of the emotion you happen to be in, at some point you might be able to transform its energy into something kind, compassionate and meaningful.

Go ahead, accept and feel the emotion… Emotions are really moving.

Daniela Andreescu | Mind Change Adventure | 10 13th, 2011 | No Comments »

Why does a person need to die to be loved, appreciated and acknowledged?

Why do we think of or remember people only after they are no longer here?

Why do humans run the life-death race without really noticing their fellow human beings, without realizing how immensely endebted and grateful we should be to each other, to each and every being that ever existed, for having made our lives possible now?

Why do we take things for granted? … From our Apple computer to the apple on our table, from our body as a healthy human, to the bugs that make it possible for our body-mind system to survive?

Why are we so oblivious to Life and cherish our egotic mind instead?

I am tenderly grateful to all those who, through their comments, ‘like’s and ‘share’s, brought Steve Jobs’s life-and-death into my life.

I am silently grateful to Steve Jobs for having shared his precious human life with so many of us.

Daniela Andreescu | Mind Change Adventure | 10 6th, 2011 | No Comments »

In order to be able to get along in the world, we invented labels such as „friend” – the person I like and could help me, therefore I’m attached to him/her, „enemy” – the person I dislike and could harm me, therefore I feel aversion and I reject him/her, and „stranger” – the person towards whom I feel indifference, since I see him as neither comforting nor harmful.

What is interesting is that we are caught in these interpretations and believe them to be „truths”. Of course, we are raised and educated in a social and cultural system that makes these distinctions. But are they „true”? Is it helpful and wise to continue cherishing this thought? Is it logical? How does this advance you in becoming more balanced and able to really benefit yourself and other?

When you kindly and gently let your mind go beyond these interpretations and views, you might discover that your heart opens to oneness, yourself and others, that friends, enemies and strangers, from their point of view,  are completely equal in wanting to be happy and not to suffer.

Just for one day, experiment with seeing each person you meet as equal, each one, in his/her own way, wishing to be happy. When this foundation of equanimity is firmly grounded, we can start building unconditional, genuine love, rather than being fascinated with our emotions and feelings based on preference and attachment. From that point on we can aspire to develop the correct wisdom that would enable us to really help others and ourselves.

Were you ever curious to understand why you think of „my” friend and „my” enemy, and why a stranger is just „a” stranger, never „mine”?

Daniela Andreescu | Mind Change Adventure | 10 3rd, 2011 | No Comments »

To be able to generate happiness, we usually need to feel secure and balanced. But how can we feel secure when we are thrown off balance, and into reactivity, by all kinds of external circumstances and internal mind events, whether we interpret them as positive or negative?

At one moment we are on top of the wave, feeling enthusiastic or joyful about ideas, persons, actions, our own thoughts and emotions, at other times we experience irritation, boredom, disappointment, guilt, indifference, envy, anger and the like. How to find the right equlibrium so as to be able to act wisely instead of reacting according to our usual patterns?

A fist step is to develop the capacity to not be caught up with what happens to us. This means to place ourselves in the center of what we are experiencing, embracing the extreme we happen to be in – pleasant or unpleasant, attractive or repulsive – without placing our identity in that experience and thereby letting ourselves be thrown off balance. How? Just take interest in whatever is occurring, simply because it is occurring.

To train our mind to do that we can intentionally give attention to how balance is lost and how reactivity is triggered. When we practice that on a regular basis, for many people this approach is more effective than contemplating and pursuing the ideal of calm. Why? Because we are quite used to our negative mind and it’s easier to observe those states than to consciously produce their antidotes.

When we study the way we get caught in or between extremes, we give ourselves the chance to find out that our mind is more spacious than what we believed, that there is a point of balance from where we can look at the world with what some traditions call ‚equanimity’ – a calm awareness and acceptance of that is in the moment, a state of mind that is watchful, active and intentional, that is not pulled or pushed to either attachment or rejection. It’s a place where the concepts of being safe, balanced or happy, loose their relevance and power.

Daniela Andreescu | Mind Change Adventure | 09 29th, 2011 | No Comments »

Our brains are harwired to pursue reward, pleasure and survival, to avoid punishment, pain and distress. We are culturally programmed to think about those two states as happiness and suffering, and society teaches us countless ways in which to run in this lifelong race to gain the big prize of happiness, preferably without ever having to deal with suffering.

When we look closer at what we think, feel and do, we could discover that the efforts we make to acquire happiness are actually our main source of stress.

Why is that? It’s because the reality we see around us is what our mind projects and then we depend on these projections. We run inside the wheel of our own projections.

What if we could build a state of mind that helps us stop stressing about how things are and what we believe we want? How would it feel when we develop a consciousness that just knows what is appropriate to build a satisfied and content mind regardless of the circumstances?

All you need is to train your mind to generate contentment and joy, and to come up with the right solutions for efficient and wise actions, to benefit yourself and others. This does not mean loosing touch with “reality”, becoming blind to pleasure or suffering, repressing emotions that feel negative or deluding yourself into believing things that seem positive.

It means that you skilfully tap your mind’s potential and make use of the high degree of choice as to what your mind projects. It means that your natural mind potential can be developed so that you get out of the happiness/suffering stress race.

You could then take your new found treasures and embark on the journey of self-generated serenity and dynamic balance, travelling around the ocean of reality with ease, grace and contentment. You might even feel happy while doing that…

Pe aceia dintre voi care se simt atrasi de aceasta calatorie, 

ii invit sa exploreze  Programul Happy Mind Fitness

pe care il ofer impreuna cu Life After Work in luna octombrie: 

http://www.lifeafterwork.ro/produs/30/Happy-Mind-Fitness.html

Daniela Andreescu | Mind Change Adventure | 09 26th, 2011 | No Comments »

French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal said about man that he is „but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed.”

When we consider man’s mind, we could say now that it probably is the most powerful thing in nature. However, this power can be exerted wisely only when our mind is flexible. Like a reed.

What we usually do is to behave like old tree branches. We bend and break at the first gust of change that blows throught our habitual routine. We are under the illusion that we are „ourselves” when we stick to opinions that we have not revisited since childhood. We imagine that what we think and feel is right and righteous, and we resent when someone challenges our assumptions.

We get upset that reality does not adjust to the stories we tell ourselves. We do wish to live a happy and fulfilled life, preferably a long and healthy one, yet we do not easily challenge our mental and emotional habits. We are lulled to sleep by our imagination and miss the vast richness offered by reality.

By accumulating more objects in the same narrow drawers of the mind we live under the impression that we are rich: more information, more distractions, more emotions, more impressions…

Any problem with that? Yes. Particularly when something unexpected happens in our life. Since constant change is what life is about, we find ourselves turning those drawers upside down looking for solutions. What we come up with are mostly routine answers. Our minds are simply not used to be flexible and to have a continual willingness to change or be changed in order to accommodate new circumstances.

No matter what we do for a living, even if we have a job that requires constant problem-solving and thinking, our brain gets used to the routine. Even to the routine of creativity, which is so rewarding that it might become addictive.

When we summon the courage to open our heart and train our mind to become more flexible, we can start replacing fight-flight-freeze reactions with mindful actions, to uncover the force of a clear mind that cognizes reality and acts wisely.

People with flexible minds are open to changing their course when necessary or useful. This enables them to take advantage of opportunities and it can also make life a lot more fun. They are not overly attached to things going the way they had planned and so the world continues to surprise and delight them.

Every day we have the opportunity to exercise our flexibility, to do some maintenance for our brain, to re-energize our mind-body system. We can stretch our minds and become aware of its vast spaciousness. Then, when new circumstances cross our path, we have a better chance to naturally flow with the new reality, without breaking and suffering. Just bending and bowing to „what is”, and welcoming fresh solutions, efficient action and appropriate results, to benefit ourselves and others.

Maybe your mind refuses to be included in this „we” I have been using throughout this text. Why would that be? Check it out for yourself. Make friends with you mind, let it stretch and become flexible, feel your awareness expand and enjoy the process. You could be surprised…

Daniela Andreescu | Mind Change Adventure | 09 24th, 2011 | No Comments »

In our Western world, stable self-confidence and an adequate self-esteem are highly praised as neccessary ingredients for a successful and fulfilled life. What if these ‘qualities’ are in fact obstacles we need to overcome on our way to acquiring a content, satisfied and happy mind?

Both self-confidence and self-esteem imply duality and comparison to others, they have the potential to be lost or to be gained, they depend on social standards and cultural context. Some people spend their lives running toward rewards that they imagine could bring happiness. Others discard the habitual pleasures of life and force themselves into the box of ascetic denial. There are also those who choose the middle way: neither grasping, nor rejecting, just being mindfully aware of what is in the life bowl you’re holding right now. It is a natural way, and you do not need either self-confidence or a high self-esteem. It’s enough to trust yourself, to be free from any doubt about your goodness and about the goodness of others.

One way to build that trust is by stopping all criticism of yourself. It does not mean that you discard your sense of responsability for your thoughts, speech and actions, or that you lavishly indulge in whatever impulses your body-mind system produces.

It means that you non-judgementally take note of what you think, say and do, it means that you calmly and kindly apply the mental faculty of discernment to know your behaviour and to skilfully adjust your actions, to the best of your abilities, in that moment. It means that you keep your mind alert and awake and edit your mental scripts so as to have more inner space and freedom in the choices you make. For instance, instead of blaming yourself or others for a result that is different than expected, you just observe, note the factual circumstances, evaluate the possibly appropriate actions, and act accordingly, refraining from producing the negative and mind-confusing energy of criticism.

Why is self-criticism so noxious? One reason is that language conditions our lives and also our spirituality. Training in an increased awareness of the process in which we form, support and express our views, intentions, and uttered words, is a very practical starting point for both life quality enhancement and spiritual practice.

Learn to stop criticizing yourself and others. Practice kindness towards yourself and others. Enjoy living lightly, in your mind and in your outer life. Begin to build that fundamental trust that is a basis for transforming what is negative into what is positive.

Daniela Andreescu | Mind Change Adventure | 09 18th, 2011 | No Comments »

De cele mai multe ori, atat printre oameni de stiinta cat si printre cei care sustin caile spirituale, efectul placebo este privit ca si “un copil vitreg”. Cei “favoriti” – medicamentele, traditiile spirituale sau religioase – obtureaza parca perspectiva integratoare care ar putea aduce mai eficient beneficii, atat individului cat si comunitatii umane din care facem parte.

In ultima vreme insa, tot mai multi oameni de stiinta, cercetatori, universitari, profesionisti din domeniile medicinei, neurostiintelor, psihologiei, antropologiei si altele, au inceput sa acorde o atentie pozitiva si sa cerceteze modalitati de a declansa efectul placebo ca si “remediu” pentru diferite afectiuni fizice si mental-emotionale.

Cu alte cuvinte, “Exista un medicament pe care il putem obtine gratis si care nu are efecte secundare. Se numeste… minte.” Acest subtitlu al articolului “Heal Thyself” (Vindeca-te pe tine insuti) publicat intr-un numar recent al revistei de prestigiu New Scientist, enumera 6 modalitati prin care poti utiliza cu succes ceea ce ai deja, in propriul “sertar cu doctorii” – mintea ta.

Pe scurt…

1. “Pacaleste-te” – convinge-te, in mod constient constient, ca tratamentul medical pe care il urmezi are efectul scontat.

2. “Gandeste pozitiv” – transformarea cognitiv-comportamentala a gandurilor si emotiilor asa-zis negative.

3. “Mediteaza” – folosind tehnici corecte, chiar daca nu neaparat in cadrul unei traditii spirituale, pot aparea imbunatatiri substantiale ale functionarii sistemului imunitar, memoriei si concentrarii, ameliorarea unor afectiuni ale pielii, stari depresive, chiar incetinirea imbatranirii.

4. “Ai incredere in oameni” – socializeaza cu empatie si bunavointa, petrecand timp de calitate, si nu e nevoie sa fie multi oameni in jurul tau.

5. “Hipnotizeaza-te” – se pare ca auto-hipnoza poate avea efecte benefice in gestionarea durerii, anxietate, despresie, obezitate, astm.

6. “Cunoaste-ti scopul” – alege sa stii, sau sa decizi, care este scopul tau in viata, si incearca sa-l atingi.

O concluzie posibila este ca daca iti schimbi mintea – in sensul a ce gandesti, spui si faci, in relatia cu tine si cu lumea – iti poti schimba pozitiv viata, in beneficiul tau si al celorlalti. N-ar fi diferit de invataturile traditiilor contemplative de acum peste 2000 de ani: calea explorarii, cu cu incredere si curiozitate, a potentialului propriei minti.

Enjoy!

http://www.newscientist.com/special/heal-thyself

Daniela Andreescu | Mind Change Adventure | 09 1st, 2011 | No Comments »

Do not pursue the past.

Do not lose yourself in the future.

The past no longer is.

The future has not yet come.

Look deeply at life as it is.

In the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom.
We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it?…

Bhaddekaratta Sutta

Daniela Andreescu | Mind Change Adventure | 08 24th, 2011 | No Comments »