Blocks of Life

Mirror. Woman looking at her face in shards of broken mirror.

October 26, 2019March 3, 2019 by Pete Wiley

Mirror—What Interactions with Others Can Tell You about Yourself

You know those people you always have a good time with? People you can always pick up where you left off with, no matter what the circumstances? People you are completely at ease with? Think about how comfortable you feel when you’re with these people.

Do you ever feel this comfortable when you’re by yourself?

There are a lot of elements that go into the very best relationships. There has to be respect, honesty, appreciation, and a welcoming attitude. These elements happen automatically with people who make us happy.

Are these elements present when we’re alone? Do we show ourselves the same respect, honesty, and appreciation? Do we welcome our time alone?

Crisis. Man walking on the flooded street after Hurricane Sandy landfall

October 12, 2019February 17, 2019 by Pete Wiley

Handling yourself in a Crisis: Making a Plan

How do you handle yourself in a crisis?

Are you able to think logically and rationally? The ability to remain calm when responding to a crisis is not something that comes easily to many people. It can be quite hard to hold your emotions in check, especially when faced with an emergency that could significantly affect you or those you love.

Part of this ability is related to our level of self-control. Some of us are more prone to panic than others. There are those who, somehow, are able to keep their heads no matter what’s going on, while others fly off the handle in response to the slightest emergency. If you’re in the latter group, is there anything you can do about it? Are there ways to stay calm in a crisis?

September 28, 2019February 17, 2019 by Pete Wiley

Foresight: Seeing the Best Future

How would your life change if you could see into the future? You might be able to avoid disasters or take advantage of opportunities. You might be able to help people before they got into trouble.

But what’s the point of speculating—no one can see into the future, right? Or can we?

There have always been people who seem to have the power to accurately predict future events, whether it’s the stock market, the weather, or people’s reactions.

in Mindful / Proactive 0 comments

Scent. Woman smelling flowers during a walk in the woods.

September 14, 2019February 17, 2019 by Pete Wiley

The Scent of Mindfulness—Follow your Nose

Smell is often the most undervalued sense.

For many of us, unless a scent is extremely strong, extremely pleasant, or extremely unpleasant, we don’t pay much attention to it. Even with our limited sense of smell (compared to many animals), there is a wide range of smells in the world that we can enjoy, that can provide information, and that can become another universe for us to explore.

There are many variants out there of the Five Senses Mindfulness exercise, in which the participant focuses on each of their five senses in turn. It’s a great exercise in mindfulness and a good starting point for being more mindful of our senses, but if we can expand this idea into our regular moment-to-moment mindfulness, it will result in whole new worlds opening up to us.

in Mindful / Nature 2 comments

Impermanence. Woman with umbrella living in the moment.

August 31, 2019February 9, 2019 by Pete Wiley

In this Moment, Everything is Permanent

Everything we have, everything we know, and everyone we love will someday be gone. We will all be gone someday too.

Permanence is a delusion, and although the idea of permanence can sometimes be comfortable—making us feel secure and stable—it can also make us unprepared for the changes in our lives.

If we feel we can maintain our lives just the way they are in any given moment, we will invariably be frustrated and disappointed.

in Mindful / Open Mind 0 comments