Quotes from J. Mark G. Williams

A typical meditation consists of focusing your full attention on your breath as it flows in and out of your body (see "A one-minute meditation" on the opposite page). Focusing on each breath in this way allows you to observe your thoughts as they arise in your mind and, little by little, to let go of struggling with them

Scientific studies have shown that mindfulness not only prevents depression, but that it also positively affects the brain patterns underlying day-to-day anxiety, stress, depression, and irritability so that when they arise, they dissolve away again more easily. Other studies have shown that regular meditators see their doctors less often and spend fewer days in the hospital. Memory improves, creativity increases and reaction times become faster

The spirit in which you do something is often as important as the act itself

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking out new landscapes but in having new eyes. ATTRIB. MARCEL PROUST

mindfulness allows you to catch negative thought patterns before they tip you into a downward spiral. It begins the process of putting you back in control of your life.

To cultivate mindfulness truly, we need to become fully integrated with our body once more

Scientific studies have shown that mindfulness not only prevents depression, but that it also positively affects the brain patterns underlying day-to-day anxiety, stress, depression and irritability so that when they arise, they dissolve away again more easily.

Mindfulness teaches us that thoughts are just thoughts; they are events in the mind. They are often valuable but they are not "you" or "reality." They are your internal running commentary on yourself and the world

Meditation is not about accepting the unacceptable. It is about seeing the world with greater clarity so that you can take wiser and more considered action to change those things that need to be changed.

In mindfulness, we start to see the world as it is, not as we expect it to be, how we want it to be, or what we fear it might become

Mindfulness meditation encourages us to become more patient and compassionate with ourselves and to cultivate open-mindedness and gentle persistence

when you start to feel a little sad, anxious or irritable, it's not the mood that does the damage but how you react to it.

We get drawn into this emotional quicksand because our state of mind is intimately connected with memory. The mind is constantly trawling through memories to find those that echo our current emotional state

Mindfulness meditation teaches you to recognize memories and damaging thoughts as they arise. It reminds you that they are memories. They are like propaganda, they are not real. They are not you.

You can learn to observe negative thoughts as they arise, let them stay a while and then simply watch them evaporate before your eyes. And when this occurs, an extraordinary thing can happen: a profound sense of happiness and peace fills the void.

You come to realize that thoughts come and go of their own accord; that you are not your thoughts.

You come to the profound understanding that thoughts and feelings (including negative ones) are transient.

Habit breaking is straightforward.

estrés y la depresión en la Universidad de Oxford y en otras instituciones. Ese trabajo ha descubierto el secreto de la felicidad continuada y cómo abordar con éxito la ansiedad, el estrés, el agotamiento e incluso la depresión profunda. Es ese tipo de felicidad y paz que

The mind seems to have a mind of its own.