SUICIDE HAS BEEN ON MY MIND
Thank you for not judging me...
Thank you for not judging me
When we are able to recognize what’s going on inside of ourselves and what’s going on around us, in the present moment and without judgement, we embody what mindfulness is like.
Mindfulness is a tool that helps us manage thoughts and emotions, notice more of what’s happening in a situation, and immerse ourselves in the present moment as it unfolds.
Using mindfulness skills to look at the situation in a more neutral way can have a big impact on the way we understand ourselves and our world.
Mindfulness slows us down and gives us time to consider different options when we’re confronted with a problem, so we have the freedom to choose a response, rather than just reacting or judging something or someone as good or bad.
When the mind is left unchecked, the judging mind can feel overwhelming & controlling. And if we don’t have or utilize tools to reduce the impact, we’re left reacting to the workings of the mind.
-Chasing the “good.”
-Running from the “bad.”
-And ignoring the “neutral.”
When you stop trying to react to your experience, you can open up to it completely, resting in mindful presence.
In this email, we’ll be diving deep into this topic & I’ll be sharing what we can do to rise up from constantly reacting & judging & take our power back. We’ll be also talking about suicide (as it’s suicide prevention & awareness month), and I also share some other goodies as well.
Be sure to check out the list of content break down below.
Here’s the LOC breakdown for you to PREVIEW what you’re getting in this email (at a glance):
Mindful Insights
(1) It’s National Suicide Prevention & Awareness Month. Below I put together a suicide awareness toolkit filled with the basics of what you would need when faced with suicidal thoughts or while in the presence of someone who’s thinking of suicide. (2) Short (2:54) Suicide Awareness Video (warning: video may be perceived as graphic & may trigger emotional responses) (3) I Put Together a short clip debunking 4 myths on suicide
Mindful Weekly Challenge
(Cause & Effect challenge to open our awareness to how our actions create ripple effects in not only our own lives but in our world)
Mindful Approach
(Judgement day—This week what I’m aiming to create for you is awareness on the relationship between judgement & mindfulness. I share info in a way that will allow you to be able to experience the judgmental nature of your mind and to also learn about the problematic aspects of judgements and how mindfulness can support you to start responding in a way that’s more aligned with who you believe yourself to be.
Mindful Reflection
(A reflection on a quote I discovered this week:
"If you can sit quietly after difficult news;
if in financial downturns you remain perfectly calm;
if you can see your neighbors travel to fantastic places without a twinge of jealousy;
if you can happily eat whatever is put on your plate;
if you can fall asleep after a day of running around without a drink or a pill;
if you can always find contentment just where you are:
you are probably a dog."
– Jack Kornfied)
Mindful Insights
1) Suicide Prevention & Awareness TookKit
September is Suicide Prevention & Awareness Month & this upcoming week (September 6-12) is National Suicide Awareness Week.
The link below is something I put together for you (a little toolbox if you will) of the basics to what you would need to know if or when faced with Suicide—whether it be for you or for someone else. I hope that it serves you some purpose.
Feel free to save and share the file if you please).
SUICIDE AWARENESS INFOPACKET.PDF
2) Suicide Awareness (A short Film)
This video was created back in 2017 but still holds so much relevance today. It’s based in Australia and even so, it still holds validity here in America too. So in viewing the film, try and see if you can have an experience that allows for non judgmental observation & curiosity. See if you can notice what feelings come up as you watch it. What did you notice? How did the video make you feel?
Awareness Short film —
3) Debunking 4 myths around Suicide
I added this video to my Instagram page a few weeks ago and wanted to share it here with you too, just in case you haven’t had the chance to watch it yet. Hope it resonates.
DEBUNKING MYTHS AROUND SUICIDE VIDEO
Mindful Challenge
This weeks mindful challenge is called “Cause & Effect.”
I chose to share this challenge because it does a great job in creating the awareness of how our actions impact other aspects of our life.
How to do this challenge:
Choose an appropriate amount of time (an hour is good but longer or shorter works too) where you can contemplate cause & effect for everything that you do.
Sounds simple but you will be surprised how many actions you do in an hour.
For example, you want to write something. Picking up a pen will cause the ink to flow to the bottom and then in turn scratching it on a paper will leave a colored ink trail along the page.
Try and do this for every single action you take.
Mindful Approach
So here we are…3rd week into sharing insight on the pillars of mindfulness so that you can cultivate a better understanding of what mindfulness is, what it isn’t, and how you can apply it into your life.
This weeks topic is on — judgement.
Most of our daily awareness is clouded by countless judgements and evaluations towards the world and towards ourselves.
Why are we like this?
We were made this way. See…passing judgement is actually very natural. We’re predisposed to judge. It used to be a survival mechanism dated back centuries ago, that helped in our evolution. We needed to distinguish between friend or foe, good or bad, in efforts to stay away from danger and continue to survive. We had to be swift & navigate our world, accounting anything that will pose a risk of dying, into consideration.
The ability to judge and judge quickly was built into our minds.
That brings us here to the present moment. But in this day of age, our innate response to judge tends to create conflict.
Many of us see the world through our own subjective lens. And we make decisions, form ideations & beliefs, and form judgements based on personal, environmental, or cultural standards, rules, norms, & opinions, rather than objective truths.
In other words, if someone else isn’t living up to our standards or “truth,” then they’re doing it wrong and we’re going to judge them for it. Likewise, if we do something we consider “not good,” we judge & beat ourselves up.
And so what mindfulness is attempting to ask us to do is to suspend judgement or to atleast notice when we are judging, so we can have more choice on what we want to do (continue to judge or choose alternate possibilities).
Judgments & Well-being
When judging, a comparison is made between how reality is perceived and how one believes reality should be according to one’s personal and societal norms, rules, and beliefs.
For example, if you strongly hold the belief that money=success, you may judge a poor person as a “loser,” which will likely negatively influence your interaction and sense of connection with that person.
Another example—if you feel that “crying is a sign of weakness,” you may judge yourself as weak when you find yourself crying. This judgment may trigger avoidance-based strategies such as suppression in order to reduce the emotion and stop crying.
Negative self judgements have been found to be related to depression and in severe cases to attempted suicide.
Mindfulness & Judgments
Mindfulness is awareness of the continuous stream of internal (thoughts & emotions) and external (sounds & events) experiences that occur in the present moment.
Instead of judging and labeling experiences in a “black & white” kind of way, mindfulness is about paying full attention to external events and internal thoughts, feelings, & sensations with a non judgmental attitude of curiosity and acceptance.
By refraining from judgement, the ability to observe rather than to identify with thoughts and emotions is strengthened.
Mindfulness enhances the ability to make a distinction between direct experiences and the mental story or interpretation of these experiences, thereby reducing their potential harmful impact on our mental well-being.
Try and see if you can practice along with the “seated guided meditation” that I shared with you last week. During the meditation, try to pay extra attention to judgements you make. Every time you notice the mind is judging something or someone, silently label it, “judgement.”
And so there you have it. An overview of our judgmental minds and how mindfulness can support us in becoming more aware of our judgements so that we can either change it or continue to do it.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Did it resonate? Do you judge yourself and/or others on a constant basis? How do you view the world? I’d love to hear what you think. Feel free to share your thoughts by replying here or over on the fb group— “zen space.”
**Next week, we’ll enter the next pillar of mindfulness — ACCEPTANCE**
Mindful Reflection
"If you can sit quietly after difficult news;
if in financial downturns you remain perfectly calm;
if you can see your neighbors travel to fantastic places without a twinge of jealousy;
if you can happily eat whatever is put on your plate;
if you can fall asleep after a day of running around without a drink or a pill;
if you can always find contentment just where you are:
you are probably a dog."
-Jack Kornfield
I discovered this quote earlier this week & I found it to be very powerful & thought I’d share my reflection on it here with you.
Jack Kornfield got it spot on with the way he formulated this. He touched on how dogs experience things without judgement, analysis, or wishing they were different & this resonates so hard with me. Because have you ever noticed how much joy dogs find in each activity that they do? They just appreciate the little things.
Imagine a life where more often than none, you experience things just as they are and then move swiftly on, without analysis and making lots of judgements? I mean dogs find satisfaction in daily activities, without wondering 'what's next'. So why can’t we…right?
We all want contentment; to experience more ease in our lives….so what if we were a little more like a dog, and just allowed whatever to occur to occur as it is, without wishing it was different?
Hmm…
You reached the end of the newsletter. Thank you so much for reading & I hope you have an amazing week.
namaste.
** BTW I recently discovered that you can REPLY to these emails directly. And that excites me lol. Im always down to chat & go over anything I covered, any mindfulness or meditation questions, or simply just connect & get to know you more. If that’s something you’d like to do, feel FREE and just respond to the email(s).
***ALSO, if you haven’t already you can join the private group on FB where we can get conversations going & talk about important & meaningful topics or ideas as it relates to us or the world. Plus, I’d rather talk too you, not at you.
So come talk to me.
I’m Victor.
Or the mindfulness guy.
I aim to find calm & balance in my life through inspirations between alternative Eastern traditional Buddhism styles of meditation & mindfulness, as well as modern secular styles too.
I believe that we ALL have the capacity to create greatness for ourselves & I’m willing to show you how.
you can find me hanging out on:
Instagram —@2whomitmayconcrn_
Facebook — @iamzenrn
TikTok — @iamzenrn
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~I’m here to hold space for you because you deserve it.~
Victor Padilla