Bhat's Notes

Coverage by Bhat Dittakavi of Variance.AI on “Mastery through Mindfulness” by Colleen Lightbody on 16th September 2018 at TEDxHyderabad.

I am becoming more convinced we are not on search for happiness but we are in search for peace of our mind. Each of us is running a story in our mind. It is very exhausting. When you do dishes, do you feel the clicks of the cutlery, slippery-ness of soap suds and so on. No. You think about meetings and dinner and on. Story in your mind is always in the past or in the future.

You are thinking about that person who walked into your office and how disrespectful he was. You are either in that past or in the future. You are worried about promotion in your career or your child’s education. Here is the problem with past or future thinking. It is mostly negative. Thinking raises your adrenaline and affects your physiology. It makes you ill. Biological imperative that kicks us alive is all about what could go wrong. This has been the condition of our brains over million years. While you grab those berries, your mind works on whether there is a tiger lurching behind.

You have the cognitive capacity to be in control of your mind. Mindfulness. Left and right prefrontal cortexes are used for immersion regulation and self control. We know from neuro plasticity, we shall make our brain muscles stronger and thicker, like the biceps, through practice.

You have the ability to control your mind. Observe it and bring it back to the moment. Feel the floor. Feel the toes. Feel the legs. Feel the inhalation. That cold air. Feel the exhalation. Warm air. Br in the present. Short term meditation drops your cortisone levels by 50%.

A man told me to tell people “they don’t have to meditate, chant or do anything.” Tell them they can do it anyway. He is right. You can do mindfulness even while you are driving a car. Feel the grass. Smell the scent. One March I was on a my bicycle race. I crashed my bicycle into the one ahead of me as he hit a road bump or something. Doctors completely rebuilt my wrist. I had fractures and metal plates in my face. While I was recuperating, I needed to open myself to be in the present. We need to be intentional about our presence in our life. Be intentional about how you live in your life. Ordinary people become heroes.

A Harvard professor made an experiment with dolphin trainers. First group was asked to be mindful. Dolphins in the mindfulness group performed better. Your children know when you are in the presence. Be present with your children, and not your cell phone.

55,000 thousands suffer death as they believe in witchcraft. One million Rwandans were assaulted by their own countrymen. Think of any argument. You were always  right. Aren’t you? You got lot of the evidence too. Isn’t it? Don’t you have the right to be happy. We need to get out of constant need to be right. Always trying to prove that we are right. Be in the present state of inner being. Worthy or worthless, good or bad, success or failure and on and on. Get into the conscious space of being you.

In my life I experienced a lot of hardship. I discovered mindfulness finally. Today I am standing in front of 2,500 whereas I was  terrified once to stand in front of just couple of people in the past.

You have the capacity to navigate your own challenges. When you do it in the presence, mindfully, intentionally, consciously, you will get over those challenges.