This course is a continuation of the Mindful Living Skills 1 course. You will expand your skills in support of a deeper experience of emotional balance, well-being, interpersonal harmony and sustainable happiness.
Course Description:
When life doesn’t go the way we planned or hoped, we sometimes collapse into emotional chaos, which can lead us to make poor decisions and act unwisely. This chain of events can create a great deal of suffering for us. However, it’s possible to relate to the disappointment and difficulty in our lives without stress and anguish. Emotional chaos is the result of reactive mind states. You know all too well what reactive mind states are—anger, anxiety, frustration, irritation, restlessness, worry, insecurity, doubt, obsession, etc.
These reactive mind states are not your fault really. Life is unpredictable and sometimes painful, so of course it generates mental and emotional chaos. But you don’t have to helplessly submit to your mind being tossed around willy-nilly by these inner storms.
There is a way to move from the emotional chaos of the reactive mind to a state of clarity in which you are able to respond to people and situations from a responsive mind state. Your responsive mind state knows what you are about. It allows you to stay grounded in your deepest values even in the face of life’s uncertainty. You experience clarity that allows you to act with wisdom and stay true to what matters most to you. This abiding wisdom yields a sense of ease and direction in life that I call skillful living. Here are some of the benefits of skillful living that this book seeks to help you discover:
- You know and act from your core values at all times
- You gain wisdom from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.
- You can discern between thoughts, words, and actions that cause harm and those that do not, and you act accordingly.
- You know your true nature, the essence of your character, and how to protect it.
- You accept gain and loss equally and derive insight from each.
- You have an inner life in which love can flourish, even if your outer life is filled with challenges.
- You learn to speak only what is true, useful, and timely, even during moments of anger and outrage.
- You are not controlled by your views and opinions or the story of your past, but rather you have a “don’t know” mind that responds wisely to whatever you encounter in life.
- You have the ability to soothe yourself whenever you feel disappointed or overwhelmed by life.
COURSE TEXTS: Emotional Chaos to Phillip Moffitt Mind Illuminated by John Yates
Course Outline:
Week 1: Living into Life through Gratitude. Four-phase Mediation Practice.
Week 2: Overcoming Attachments through Generosity. Stage 1 Breath Awareness Practice.
Week 3: Doing the Right Thing, the Power of Virtuous Living
Week 4: Bringing Mindfulness to Major Life Changes
Week 5: Healthy Boundaries
Saturday Retreat – 9:30-3:30 pm
Week 6: Ending the Cycle of Self-Violence
Week 7: Practicing Self-Restraint
Week 8: Overcoming Ordinary Compulsiveness