[progressally_objectives]
Congratulations!
You have spent 7 weeks… or 17 weeks… or however long it’s taken you to get here… taking care of yourself.
You have walked and breathed and eaten and spoken mindfully.
You have explored your emotional landscape, investigating your stress triggers and your reaction patterns.
You have cultivated compassion and joy and positivity.
You have found ways to nurture yourself and your innate gifts.
You have developed a deeper awareness of your body, your mind, and your surroundings.
You have spent time in silence and stillness, even when it was hard. Even when you didn’t want to.
You have given yourself an amazing gift.
So take a moment today to honor and thank yourself. Celebrate Brilliant Mindful YOU!
I hope you have discovered through this course that mindfulness and brilliance are your birthright. This course did not give you mindfulness, but instead helped you discover the stillness and awareness that are always available in the present moment, in the present body. I know I promised I would stay away from the “woo-woo” in this course, but let me just say that I KNOW we are all brilliant, radiant star stuff. My sincere hope is that Brilliant Mindful YOU has helped you connect to your innate goodness and compassion and light.
I envision the work we’ve done in this course being a bit like dusting off a lightbulb, removing the layers of mind traps and arrows and stories and habitual reactions that have accumulated on the surface due to a lifetime of conditioning and busy-ness. As we carefully and gently polish the delicate lamp, previously blurry areas of the room come into focus. Our vision and awareness expand. The light shines brighter. We shine brighter.
As the Buddha said in his final words, “Be a light unto yourself.”
So today is a day of celebration. Take time to nurture yourself today. Do something kind for yourself to honor the work you have done and will continue to do so that you may live with greater calm, balance and ease.
Jon Kabat-Zinn writes in Full Catastrophe Living that people often ask why the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction classes end after 8 weeks. Shouldn’t everyone continue coming to class?
He says that the challenge now is to practice mindfulness on your own, without the structure of the classes. It is about integrating mindfulness into your daily life — just as we’ve been talking about this week. It is about finding your path.
We ourselves must walk the path:
Buddhas only show the way.
-from the Dhammapada
And so I will end the content of this course with this poem from William Stafford, with which I close all of my mindfulness classes:
You Reading This, Be Ready
Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?
Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?
When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life –
What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?
William Stafford
Next Week:
Next week is our final implementation week — there will be no new content, but you will have one more week to ask questions and get feedback from me as you prepare for the great retreat!
THANK YOU!
I would also like to take this time to THANK YOU for your support of and participation Brilliant Mindful YOU with me.
I have so enjoyed getting to know you through your comments on Facebook, and through your emails. I have been inspired by your insights and honesty.
In the spirit of gratitude, I have a few gifts for you as a participant in Brilliant Mindful YOU!
In the coming weeks you will receive:
- a pdf-download of all the written course content! (anticipate receiving this by mid-March)
- access to a Dropbox file with all audio recordings
And, as you may know, I am opening registration for my other online course: Mindfulness for Mothers! As a Brilliant Mindful YOU grad, you are able to take the course at a 50% discount, as some of the material will be similar. This course will specifically address the challenges of motherhood, and how we can bring our mindful awareness to parenting, how we can take care of ourselves, and how we can practice mindfulness with our children. You can learn more about the course here.
To register with your discount, enter the code ALUMNI — this code will make the cost of Mindfulness for Mothers just $49.50 (full price is $99), and Mindfulness for Mothers + Mindful Mama, Mindful Monkeys just $69.50 (full price is $119). You can register here.
Final Housekeeping Items
In a few weeks you will receive, via email, a link to an online course survey. I am very interested in your feedback about Brilliant Mindful YOU and improving the course in the future. Feel free to email me with any suggestions or comments, too.
You will find your two final audio downloads at the bottom of this lesson. My intention with Brilliant Mindful YOU is that you now have a variety of mindfulness practice guides, ranging from 5 to 25 minutes in length, so that you can choose one each day depending on how much time you have to practice. The downloads are both 25 minutes long, and include longer periods of silence.
I’ll see you next week for a final week of practice together!