What Is Hard Can Be Easy

3 Methods of Mindfulness Practice to Break Through Barriers.

We Determine Our Relationship With Life

• Mindfulness can become complicated if it’s made complex.

  • It's pretty simple.

• What is complex can be simple, and what is simple can become complex.

  • Mindfulness can be challenging because it’s easy.

• It is essential to notice it can be challenging but doesn’t have to be.

  • The same goes for life.

My Experience as a Rower and Coach

Rowers can create meaning out of pain.

The Duality of Life

• Rowing can be equally challenging and seamless at the same time.

  • There is a delicate balance between working as hard as possible and having a superior technique that limits the amount of wasted energy.

• If I pull too aggressively and move up the slide too hard, I begin to reduce the effectiveness and power of each stroke.

  Why? Because I am not relaxed.

• How can someone work as hard as they can and be relaxed simultaneously?

  • Many of us, including me, think that something is one thing or another.

• This is a fallacy for rowing, mindfulness, and life in general.

Law of Opposites

• The belief that everything in the universe has an opposite or opposing force.

  • Light can’t be seen without darkness because darkness is not possible without seeing light.

• If everything were dark or everything was light, there wouldn’t be a consensus on what these words mean without comparing them to each other.

  Why does this allow mindfulness to be easy?

• Because the law of opposites suggests that two opposing forces define one another through comparison.

  How would this apply to mindfulness strategies?

• I need to work on my mindfulness practice, whether it’s through meditation or just being more of an observer of life rather than someone who reacts to it.

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  Mindfulness: The practice of paying attention in the present moment. Every form of mindfulness can show this

  1st Mindfulness Principle: There is no right way.