Subway Haiku

By Jonathan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Rush hour, changing trains
Like salmon migrating home --
No spawning on stairs

Recently, the NYC subway system has gone from bad to worse. Trains are coming less often, and moving less quickly. With your mindfulness practice, perhaps you've noticed these changes, too?

As a result, crowds of passengers are getting more plentiful and overwhelming platforms and stairwells. During rush hour at Broadway-Nassau, people use every inch of the narrow staircase to descend from the Downtown 4/5 to the Brooklyn-bound A/C. When I saw one passenger trying valiantly to climb the stairs and change trains in the opposite direction, I was inspired to write this small poem.

Simply Watch

Submitted by Jennifer Egert, Ph.D.

Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

Quote by unknown author

How often do our thoughts create our reality? You can see it in so many ways, whether it be pre-conceived notions of a social situation, an influence from a comment from a friend or colleague, or a mood that strikes early and unfolds as the day goes on. As this quote suggests, simply watching our inner lives can have consequences for the cascade of life experiences that follow.

"People helping other people" mindfulness: Spontaneous acts of caring in Gotham

By Irene Javors, LMHC

On one of those bitterly cold Sunday afternoons that NYC has endured over the last month, I decide to get a cup of something hot at the nearest coffee shop. I manage to find a window seat and set myself down to a serious half hour of people watching. People are rushing about, all trying to outrun the frigid temperatures. There are all sorts of get ups worn by these intrepid New York walkers, Parkas, long goats, layers and layers of sweaters and scarves, every variety of boot and shoe imaginable, gloves, mittens, and a few brave hat-less souls.

As I look out upon the "great parade." a relatively young man asks if he could take the empty seat at my table ( at 61 anyone under 40 appears virtually teenage to me). I nod a "yes." He proceeds to take out his cholesterol doused donut and a giant coffee. I envy his lack of dietary concerns. Both of us sit watching the passing throngs, enveloped in the warmth of the shop. A woman appears on the street loaded down with 2 shopping bags, a box, and a paper bag whose handle suddenly gives way. The contents of this container drops onto the sidewalk. Frantic, she tries to get the stuff back into the original bag and then put that into one of the other shopping bags. Nothing works. Finally, my tablemate said, "she needs some help." He throws on his coat and goes out to help her. He starts fumbling with all the bags and again one of the handles breaks. Miraculously, a woman comes running up with two large plastic bags and helps them re-package the whole mess! In the blink of an eye, this good Samaritan vanishes. The woman with the bags leaves and the guy comes back to my table. He winks and says, "all in a day's work."

I left the shop feeling warmed not only by the heat of the store but more importantly by the acts of helpfulness and generosity that I was a witness to. When I am feeling a bit down and I forget that there is more to the city than pushy people, rude comments, and just "too much" of everything, I coax myself to be mindful of the lady with the bags and all the people who set about helping her.

What Henry David Thoreau would say about cell phones

By Jonathan Kaplan, Ph.D.

My introduction to mindfulness came from reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau when I was in high school. His musings on leading a simple life in the present moment really resonated with me. Recently, I was re-reading Thoreau’s classic book, and I came across a passage that reminded me of how we have become addicted to our cell phones, PDA’s, Blackberries, and iPhones. Whether walking down the street, riding the elevator, or sitting in a waiting room, we’re often seen face-down, immersed in checking our messages. While communicating with others is desirable, it often distracts us unnecessarily from being present. Who hasn’t had the experience of “having nothing to do”, then starting to fiddle with the phone as opposed to simply breathing or noticing what’s happening in the moment? What's so uncomfortable about spending a few moments just "being"? Anyway, here’s the quote (sorry if it’s a little judgmental):

“In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post office. You may depend on it, that the poor fellow who walks away with the greatest number of letters, proud of his extensive correspondence, has not heard form himself this long while.”

Henry David Thoreau, Walden (p. 366), New York: Bantam Books

Replace “post office” with “inbox” and “letters” with “e-mail”, and you have apt observation on current urban society!

So, next time, when you feel the urge to check your messages or e-mail--even though you checked a few moments ago--just take a breath and ask yourself, “How am I feeling right now?”

Full Systems Check City-Dwellers: “Got Intention?”

By Jennifer Egert, Ph.D.

In a group, I was recently leading a “Three Minute Breathing Space,” from Segal, Williams and Zindel’s book on Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression. The core of the three-minute breathing space is to check in with oneself, to see what is happening in the moment with one’s thoughts, feelings and body sensation. One of my patients, in discussing his experience with the exercise, called it a “full-system’s check”—a way, in a brief moment (3 minutes) to take stock of his state . I like this idea, a “systems check” for life.

So here were are city folks.  How are you doing? I’m just checking in here with you. It is 2010 and the beginning of the year can be a marker, a good time for a systems check. I don’t know about you but with December, in addition to the holidays, snow, busy-ness and the many distractions of the city also came, I confess, the dissolution of my meditation practice. I wanted to sit. I thought about it every morning as I turned over in bed, warm under the covers, for a few more minutes of rest before the workday began. I thought about it as I got ready for work and off and on through the day. I thought about it at night before going to bed. I thought about it a lot, but didn’t do much about these thoughts.

At a quiet moment, I sometimes took an impromptu 10 minutes to drop in. But it wasn’t the same as my regular morning practice. No real intention.

Intention implies purpose, a plan, an aim, a reason behind action. My fall from the mindfulness wagon got me taking stock of my intention for practice. Why do I practice? What am I moving towards? How do I have intent without the striving that can come with plans and goals and interfere with really being present?

Good questions for a new year.

So, this is where I am at the beginning of this new year. Checking in with myself, my intentions, my mindfulness practice. I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions. I find that when I do, I forget what they were before the year’s end, so why bother. But starting the year without a morning practice was is not my intention.

So this year, I made a New Year’s Resolution, an intention, to restart my regular practice and I am working at it. I guess that is what resolutions are really about, like the Three Minute Breathing Space. It is about taking a look at your life (body, mind and emotions), in this moment and asking if where you are at is your intention. If not, then you try to do something about it. It doesn’t have to be grand. It doesn’t have to be big. It can be a little step in something much larger. It doesn’t have to matter to anyone but you.

My wish for us all in 2010, is to have more moments of intention.

For further reading see:

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse by Zindel V. Segal PhD, J. Mark G. Williams, John D. Teasdale  (2001)

Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness- By Jon Kabat-Zinn