Anxiety Free – for the Moment!

Posted on July 20, 2017 by webmaven

Handling Anxiety

  1. Write it down. Acknowledging your worry takes away its obsessive power, so make a list of what’s bugging you.
  2. Say a prayer. Ask whatever deity or creative force or what/whoever you believe in for help, patience, and the strength to get through your troubles.
  3. Do something. Clean out your closet, reorganize a room, write a letter or make a phone call you’ve been putting off. You’ll feel better just getting something done.
  4. Read. A great book, something way out of this world, uplifting or funny can really take your mind off of your own troubles.
  5. Take a break. For 10 – 15 minutes sit with your eyes closed in a quiet spot. Mentally make a list of the blessings in your life: good health, plenty of food in the fridge, friends and family, nice weather, anything that you can think of.
  6. Take a walk or exercise. Movement is action. Exercise can clear the mind and raise endorphin levels. Getting into the sun w ill raise your spirits as well. This is very very important and often overlooked. For more information about this please see my book: Caregiver Revolution
  7. Let it go. For a day or even a few hours, do something that you enjoy. Try to refresh  your mind and see things in a new light. Don’t worry, your problems will still be there when you get back!
  8. Ask for help. Ask your spouse, friend, sibling, internet buddy or an helper at a public agency for ideas on how to get past the obstacles in your life. It’ll give you a new perspective and will remind you that others have gotten through the same problems before.

Remember, if you can put aside your mental chatter even for a moment you will experience your true nature, pure awareness. This is the same state that you experience when you are concentrating on something, enjoying yourself in an activity, or watching a child play. Time seems to disappear. You are stress free…for the moment!

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Simple Instructions for Setting up a Reading Space and for Doing a Reading

Posted on May 22, 2017 by webmaven

At the ABD facebook page you can access plenty of information about how to do a spiritual reading for the benefit of another, including someone who is sick, is passing or has died.

Posted in american book of the dead, care giving, care giving, care giving, death and dying, death and dying, End of Life Care, end of life care, hospice, prayers for the dying | Comments Off on Simple Instructions for Setting up a Reading Space and for Doing a Reading

Nurse Shares 30 Years Experiences with Death and Dying

Posted on May 7, 2017 by webmaven

Posted in care giving, care giving, care giving, death and dying, death and dying, end of life care, hospice, hospice, hospice care, Hospice care, hospice nursing, nursing, palliative care, prayers for the dying | Comments Off on Nurse Shares 30 Years Experiences with Death and Dying

A Simple Effective Practice for Meditation and End of Life Care

Posted on April 2, 2017 by webmaven

Essential Phowa Practice

By Christine Longaker

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Phowa is considered the most valuable and effective practice for death. The word phowa means the transference or ejection of consciousness into the state of truth. Its success relies on invoking the presence of a buddha (a fully enlightened being), combined with our receptivity and devotion, and the familiarity which comes from having done the practice repeatedly throughout our life.

Sogyal Rinpoche has taught an Essential Phowa practice which is not just for the moment of death. It also helps to purify our regrets, harm and negativity, and it can be used to assist in emotional or physical healing. The Essential Phowa is a practice for our whole life as well as for the time of dying, and it is the principal practice we rely on to offer spiritual support to others at the moment of death, and afterward.

If we practice the Essential Phowa again and again, our compassionate motivation and our confident devotion will grow even deeper, increasingly becoming part of our “flesh and bones.” As we begin to embody the practice, our heart and mind are opened, made more free and limitless. If we prepare for our own death with this depth of familiarity, devotion and trust, we’ll reap other rewards. For instance, our fear of death will diminish. And, even if we should be in a sudden accident, facing death without warning, we’ll know how to let go in the best way, because this profound practice has become like a reflex.

Also, by practicing the Essential Phowa regularly and as strongly as possible, we’ll find that when a loved one is in great distress or is dying, we can respond with all our love and compassion and offer this rich spiritual practice for him or her. When we hear of a great tragedy or natural disaster we will realize that we can counter our feelings of helplessness by offering a practice to spiritually benefit those who are suffering… (see more)

Posted in buddhism, clear light, death and dying, death and dying, end of life care, hospice, hospice, hospice care, Meditation, palliative care, prayers for the dying, spiritual care, spiritual care | Comments Off on A Simple Effective Practice for Meditation and End of Life Care

Benefits of Meditation

Posted on March 7, 2017 by webmaven

Harvard neuroscientist: Meditation not only reduces stress, here’s how it changes your brain.

A fascinating article in the Washington Post, looks well researched. Based on the swork of the Mindfulness Based Stress reduction Clinic in Boston. Here is a free pdf workbook that can guide you in your MBSR practice.

We talk quite a bit about these techniques in our book, Caregiver Revolution. In fact mindfulness forms the basis for expanding your practice and helping others at the end of life.

Posted in aging, caregiver stress, caregiver stress, caregiving, end of life care, humor, Meditation, Mindfulness, mindfulness, senior citizens, spiritual care, stress relief, stress relief exercises, yoga | Comments Off on Benefits of Meditation

The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Clear Light Prayer

Posted on February 12, 2017 by webmaven

The Clear Light Prayer, from the American Book of the Dead  is a  simple non denominational prayer that can be used for centering, or for helping another. It is based on the teachings of the The Tibetan Book of the Dead which are still practiced today.

The TBD a “guide for the dying which describes the process of dying as a natural transition. The text explains how by recognizing the mental states and physical sufferings involved we can come into contact with our own essential nature. In this way it is possible to find freedom from confusion and fear.” (from The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Way of Life  as narrated by Leonard Cohen)

The readings can be used for anyone who is undergoing transition, distress, illness or trauma. They simply guide the one in transition to recognize his or her true nature which is unaffected by the disturbance. The Clear Light Prayer is a very straightforward and “all-purpose” way to send good intentions to another. You can request readings for yourself or anyone at the Labyrinth Readers Forum.

The Clear Light Reading
Now I am experiencing the Clear Light of objective reality. Nothing is happening, nothing ever has happened or ever will happen. My present sense of self, the voyager, is in reality the void itself, having no qualities or characteristics. I remember myself as the voyager, whose deepest nature is the Clear Light itself; I am one; there is no other. I am the voidness of the void, the eternal unborn, the uncreated, neither real nor unreal. All that I have been conscious of is my own play of consciousness, a dance of light, the swirling patterns of light in infinite extension, endless endlessness, the Absolute beyond change, existence, reality. I, the voyager, am inseparable from the Clear Light; I cannot be born, die, exist, or change. I know now that this is my true nature.

–From American Book of the Dead by E.J. Gold

See also the Clear Light ORB

healing readings for others

You Can DO Something to Help Others

 

Posted in care giving, care giving, care giving, caregiver stress, caregiver stress, clear light, death and dying, end of life, healing, Meditation, prayers for the dying, spiritual care | Comments Off on The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Clear Light Prayer