Category: Uncategorized

In Hot Water

On By LoriIn Mindfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I got a phone call from my son’s teacher last week. My son had found himself in some hot water and she wanted to give me a heads up.   When my child returned home from school we had a discussion about the phone call.  My son was teary eyed when we talked about the incident and he was sorry for his behavior.  I understood he was remorseful but there would have to be a consequence for his poor judgement and so he was grounded.

But it wasn’t enough to be grounded; I also wanted him to do a little soul searching. I want my son to be aware that his behaviors, good or bad have an impact on others. Enter the mindfulness exercise I had him perform.  Michael Jackson the wise soul that he was performed the amazing song “The Man in the Mirror.”  My son’s exercise was to listen to this song; eyes closed, and pay close attention to the words.  He needed to feel the weight of the songs’ message and write a paragraph on the intention of the song.

My son’s paragraph was insightful and well thought out. Michael helped my son gain some clarity. Listening to this song is a good mindfulness activity.  Close your eyes and listen to the message, I guarantee the experience will be powerful.  We have every right to look after ourselves but we also have the added responsibility to look beyond ourselves to be mindful of those around us and as my son wrote ‘We should be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem.  We have the power to make a change, be mindful how you choose to use that power.’

Be forever mindful, Lori

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Today’s Mindful Moment

On By LoriIn Mindfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment


Observe your breath. Is it fast and shallow or slow and heavy?  Slowly breathe in for the count of 5, hold for 5 counts and exhale for 5 counts and hold.  Do this 5 times.  Are you feeling more centered?  Continue to breathe slowly and close your eyes.  Now listen, Listen to the sounds around you, pick up on the many sounds and try really hard to isolate just one sound.  Your mind may wander to the other sounds, gently acknowledge the sounds and bring yourself back to the isolated sound.  What do you hear? Where does the sound originate? Is it a soothing sound or quite loud and distracting?  Acknowledge the sound without judgement, listen to it with intention.

Check in with yourself, how are you feeling? My wish is that you feel calm and centered.

Embrace the moment!

Lori

Today’s Mindful Moment

On By LoriIn Mindfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Positive reinforcement word Compassion engrained in a rock

Observe your breath. Is it fast and shallow or slow and heavy?  Slowly breathe in for the count of 5, hold for 5 counts and exhale for 5 counts and hold.  Do this 5 times.  Are you feeling more centered?  Continue to breathe slowly, bring the image of a loved one into your mind and observe their face through your mind’s eye.  Follow the contours of their face, the color of their eyes, and the shade of their hair. Keep them in your mind as you bring a smile to your face and wish them the following.

May you be Happy!

May you be Healthy!

May you be Safe!

May your life be filled with joy!

Check in with yourself, how are you feeling? My wish is that you feel calm, centered and compassionate.

Embrace the moment!

Lori

Today’s Mindful Moment

On By LoriIn Mindfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment


Observe your breath. Is it fast and shallow or slow and heavy?  Slowly breathe in for the count of 5, hold for 5 counts and exhale for 5 counts and hold.  Do this 5 times.  Are you feeling more centered?  Continue to breathe slowly while observing your hands.  Your hands are an amazing gift, they soothed you as a baby, held the crayon that created your first masterpiece, reached out to brace the fall during your first steps, touched the face of a loving guardian.  Your hands are strong; they have wielded a hammer that has built something.  Your hands are gentle; they have held and soothed a crying child.  Take a moment to fully appreciate the beauty of your hands and the tasks they complete each and every day.

Check in with yourself, how are you feeling? My wish is that you feel calm, centered and appreciative.

Embrace the moment!

Lori

Today’s Mindful Moment

Close your eyes and breathe, observe your breath. Is it fast and shallow or slow and heavy?  Now, breathe in for the count of 5, hold for 5 counts and exhale for 5 counts and hold.  Do this 5 times.  Are you feeling more centered?  Continue to breathe slowly but also roll your head slowly to the right 5 times and then to the left 5 times.  Pay close attention to how you feel. Does your head feel heavy? Does your neck feel stiff? Do you feel tense or relaxed? Open your eyes.

Check in with yourself, how are you feeling? My wish is that you feel calm and centered.

Embrace the moment!

Lori

On By LoriIn Mindfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Mindfulness and the Samurai

On By LoriIn Mindfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

My son recently read a book for his English class, Samurai Shortstop by Alan Gratz.  I picked it up one day and read it through.  Samurai Shortstop is a fascinating historical novel which takes place in 1890’s Tokyo during the Meiji Restoration.  This is a transitional time between traditions and modern values in Japan.  A time, as we are reminded by one of the characters, when Western influences are eroding Japan’s cultural heritage. In the novel, the main character, Toyo, learns the fundamentals of being a samurai with his father who clings to the “traditional” Japanese way of life.

Besides being a good read, the book is infused with examples of Mindfulness. It is interesting to me, that once you start bringing mindful awareness into your life, you recognize mindfulness steeped in many traditions, stories, songs, sports, and ways of life.  Mindfulness is not a new way of focusing your attention; it is a learned awareness that has been around for centuries.

“Clear your mind. Let it become empty,” Sotaro counseled him, “so it is not filled with the past or the future, but with the present. The now.”

“It will be difficult at first,” Sotaro said. “The very act of trying to forget will cause you to remember. To help focus your thoughts, listen for the sound of the wind in the sakura.” Sotaro paused. “Do you hear it?”

Later in the book Toyo discusses his samurai lessons with a friend.

“We sat around trying to hear the stupid wind in the stupid sakura. I’m supposed to be able to hear it any time I want. But I don’t even know what that’s supposed to sound like.”

You’re not supposed to just hear it,” Fuji said. “You’re supposed to see it too. In your mind. It’s a way to focus your thoughts.”

 “We were taught to meditate before our sumo matches,” said Fuji. “They told us to imagine we were the ceaseless river pushing an immovable stone.  I didn’t really understand what they meant until I went down to the river and really thought about it.  After that, I could picture it anytime I wanted to.”

Mindfulness can be as simple and as frustrating as that. To focus our thoughts without judgement is all that is required; it just takes a little practice, patience and loving kindness.

Embrace the moment!

Lori

Proxy

On By BenIn Investments - Ben, UncategorizedLeave a comment

When you buy a stock you’re not allowed to have any say in company matters whatsoever  (Just Kidding). When you buy stocks you actually have a lot of say in company matters. You get to vote on something called the BOD (Board of Directors). The BOD gets to decide who the CEO will be and have the opportunity to hire top company managers. The more stocks you own the more you get to vote, so a person with one stock gets one vote, while a person with 500 sticks gets 500 votes. Every year all shareholders in a business are sent something called a proxy (although sometimes it’s sent to you online). Usually this proxy comes with an annual report and information on the Annual Shareholders Meeting, a meeting where the shareholders and people like the CEO meet to discuss important company events and communicate accomplishments and challenges from the last year. It’s kind of like the annual report but in person. If you live anywhere near where this is held you should definitely consider going. Anyways, when you get your proxy ballot you get a list of about ten people who are running for the BOD. You then get the choice to vote for them, against them, or abstain your vote (Pretty much means you chose not to vote). Most people vote for everyone on the list but some do a lot of research to decide who will benefit the company and who won’t.

Yesterday I got my proxy ballot from Mattel so I thought it would be the perfect the time to  write about Proxy’s.

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It looks kind of boring but some proxy’s look like this.

proxycard_a.jpg

Also kind of boring (I never said they were supposed to be interesting).

That’s all for now, Ben

 

Long-Term Debt

On By BenIn Investments - Ben, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Debt! An extremely scary word. Debt is what a company owes to another company. Generally this means that someone (usually a bank) gave them money with the expectation that they will pay back the money within a certain time frame. Lot’s of companies have debt, and a little bit of it is okay but a lot can be dangerous. Always look at the amount of debt a company has before investing. Try comparing the debt to other things like total assets and last years sales to see if the business could easily pay it off quickly. Debt is just another one of those things you’ve got to learn about before investing.

That’s all for now, Ben

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt.2

On By BenIn Product Review - Ben, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Year: 2015

Rating: PG-13

Director: Francis Lawrence

Running Time: 2hr 17min

Genre: Adventure

 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2is the thrilling finale to the Hunger Games series. In the film Katniss continues her attempts to take down the Capitol. I personally think the movie was very exciting. The creativity involved in creating some aspects of the film is absolutely impressive. There were tons of twists involved and I became very surprised by some of the things that happened. Although this was an incredible movie, it felt like some of the excitement from the first two movies was left out. Less happened in this movie than previous ones and I wish it had been more exciting. I still did enjoy this movie, but it will never be as good as the beginning of the series was.

That’s all for now, Ben

Buy Mockingjay Pt.2 on Amazon.com by clicking on picture to the right. –>