Elli Weisbaum

Mindfulness for Life

When I decided to pursue a PhD I was told over and over again that it would be overwhelming, isolating and painful. My response? No thanks! First of all, there isn't anything I choose to do in my life that I would describe in those ways. Secondly, the topic of my thesis is mindfulness - so pursuing a PhD on this topic with this framing just didn't make sense to me. But the more I was told this, the more it made me wonder what a mindful PhD might look like. Mindfulness is not only the focus of my research, but an integral part of my life. The practice is woven into the fabric of everything I do. For me, integrating mindfulness into the meta approach of pursuing my PhD seemed not only natural, but also ethical and imperative for my mental health. The aspiration behind this blog is to bring awareness for myself to this journey and to share the experience of attempting to navigate a PhD on mindfulness with mindfulness. This isn't to claim that I will never suffer or experience being overwhelmed, isolated and in pain during this process - but it is to set an intention to meet these feelings with kindness and care and to transform them so that I can also experience joy and happiness as part of this 5 year adventure.

Valentine’s day post: mindfully celebrating True Love

Exploring “The Four Immeasurable Minds” a concrete approach to loving ourselves & others

DSC05196.jpg

Although "Valentine's day" might be viewed as an example of our society's drive towards consumerism and consumption (with a complex cultural/historical history), we might also see it as an invitation to pause and contemplate the concept of LOVE. What does love mean for you in this moment? How are you showing yourself and/or those around you love? Below is a brief summary of Thich Nhat Hanh’s perspective on the Buddhist framework known as “The Four Immeasurable Minds” (also known as the “Brahmaviharas”) which propose concrete ways we can cultivate love towards ourselves and others.

 
““The Four Immeasurable Minds” propose concrete steps for cultivating love towards ourselves and others. ”
 

The Four Immeasurable Minds (the minds of True Love):

From the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay)

1. Loving Kindness

The first element of true love is maitri — loving kindness — is the capacity to offer happiness. When you are able to generate a feeling of joy and happiness within you, that’s true love.

2. Compassion

The second element of true love is karuna — compassion. Compassion is the kind of energy that can help remove and transform suffering in you and in another person(s). There is an art of suffering. If you know how to suffer, you can suffer much less. You can make good use of suffering in order to generate understanding and love.

3. Sympathetic joy

The third element of true love is joy — mudita. Sympathetic joy. Your joy is my joy (joy in another's joy). This is a sign of true love.

4. Non-discrimination (traditionally translated as Equanimity)

The fourth element of true love is upeksha (scholars usually translated this as equanimity, but Thay shares the meaning in the context of True Love as non-discrimination). In true love, there is an element of inclusiveness and non-discrimination [through our practice we see that we are not separate from the world around us]. Another person's suffering is your suffering. Their happiness is your happiness. In this spirit, we cannot say “that is your problem not mine.” Your problem is my problem. My suffering is your suffering. This is true love. 

Further reflection & application:

We might also consider how this can apply to our planet. If we see we are not separate from the world around us, then the suffering of the planet is also our suffering. So the practice of True Love can be applied to ourselves, to our romantic relationships and even to our entire planet. 

 
“...the practice of True Love can be applied to ourselves, to our romantic relationships and even to our entire planet.”
 

For each one of us, for our communities, for our precious planet:

May you be safe

May you be happy

May you be healthy 

May you be able to look at yourself with the eyes of understanding and love 

Elli Weisbaum