Agenda

• Welcome
• Lunch
• Sharing
• Maegan
• perception is key - topic for today
• Silent retreat
• Personal practice meetings / documenting
• Senior Week

Perception is key

Mind traps

• Common mental habits that tend to create more stress and pain
• You might not notice them until you fall into them
• Mindfulness can help

With practice...

• You'll be able to catch yourself before your are ensnared
• You'll be able to see the trap approaching
• Eventually you will see a difference with a simple "Ah interesting...." pause, take a breath, observe, proceed
• Bringing the body and mind back into balance

Common Mind Traps

• Negative self-talk
• When a thought pops into mind, you can notice it "Ah, interesting..."
• You can notice it as it arises and also notice it as it eventually passes.
• Like clouds coming and going, with mindfulness you can become aware through pausing, breathing, observing and proceeding.

Perception is key

• Awareness becoming aware of itself as it thinks, feels, sees, does..
• Other common mind traps: Catastrophizing, exaggerating the negative or discounting the positive, mind reading, the "shoulds' police, blaming

Just do it!

• Notice if there is any negative self talk right now.
• "This isn't going to work for me", "who am I kidding? Things in my department will never change."...
• Ask yourself - is there another way to view the situation?
• Practice what the sages teach "maybe so, maybe not".
• Over the next month, take this practice with you into daily life, looking out for your auto pilot into the negative interpretations.

Silent Retreat
location, guidelines, what to bring, what to expect