Posted by I really enjoyed talking with call specialists last week. We had lively conversations about the unique work environment at 211.
If you attended one of those sessions, please feel free to post comments and questions here. What was helpful or useful for you? What wasn’t? Have you practiced some of the tools we talked about? Why or why not? What would you want to know more about?
Celeste's Blog 
Here’s a message from one participant and my reply:
Celeste,
Just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed Keeping It Fresh training this past Friday. I was also interested in asking you what you meant by mindfulness, which you mentioned during the training? Due to time constraint did not have a chance to talk to you after the class.
I have heard of mindfulness before in a book “Hoop Dreams” by Phil Jackson(head basketball coach
for Los Angeles Lakers). Just wondering if it is similar or something different.
I also wanted to let you know that the exercise where we focused on different parts of our body
was very relaxing. But I struggled with my mind drifting off to other thoughts such as, I really need to work done on my car, what do I need to get done this weekend. Just alot of clutter, I guess.
I truly enjoyed the training.
—-
My reply:
Thanks for writing. Yes, mindfulness is what Phil Jackson worked with. That’s a good example of applying mindfulness to a particular goal.
Your experience of your mind wandering during the body scan exercise is a perfect example of what you work with in mindfulness – resting your mind on an object (such as the breath, most commonly, or a part of the body), noticing when your mind has wandered, and gently bringing it back to the object.
The mind will wander – it continually generates thoughts – so that in itself isn’t a problem. However, it can be tiring if we feel like we’re struggling against ourselves. We miss everyday moments if we’re often preoccupied with our own thinking. We can train our minds to come back more often.
Doing that over time not only calms us down, but helps us to focus better on anything we wish in everyday life. It also helps us to see our thoughts more clearly and develop greater understanding.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the training. I enjoyed it too!
Celeste
LikeLike