On life’s journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.

—Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, 563-483 BCE

Now is a stressful time in the United States for many people as much of our infrastructure is caving in to to inevitable and necessary changes.   As a result, ordinary people are experiencing loss as companies and governmental agencies liquidate and fold, downsize and the like.  And the credit crisis hits just about everyone as home values plummet, stocks dip and salaries are lowered.

I guess I am bringing this up because I was really annoyed when someone I care about lost his job and the people at this company were pumping him for information about various people and situations in the company.  The co-workers were totally without any regard for this guy’s feelings of loss and abandonment.   These people were both rude and insensitive.   But, more than rude, they lacked the necessary empathy and awareness that this person was in a state of shock and despair.   They were not mindful of the situation of the other party.   Or didn’t care.  Believe me, my friend noticed how they acted and probably will never forget.   When we are in pain, even minor actions on the part of innocent parties can be amplified in the mind.

The way we perceive stress and how we react to our perception can determine how stress affects us physically, mentally and emotionally.  Stress reactions can be stimulated by anything that we believe to be a threat from verbal discussions, as with my friend, to jumping out of an airplane for fun.  The body is filled with stress hormones (like cortisol) and adrenaline which causes the heart to race along with many other reactions.  Constant stress can cause many (even, perhaps most) diseases including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, high blood pressure, stroke, gastrointestinal problems, diabetes, asthma, headaches, depression, insomnia, fatigue, eating disorders—and more.

The Buddha lumped a lot of this together and just called it suffering.

Meditation practices common in eastern philosophy are exactly what modern practitioners are teaching to decrease harmful behavior leading to diseases and emotional breakdown.  These ancient practices have been proven to reduce stress, improve health and increase happiness and compassion.

If my friend’s co-workers had been more mindful and compassionate, they never would have said half of the things that they did which caused so much pain.  They would have been mindful of the situation and not just thinking of themselves.  But, they have to stay in the moment, on purpose, paying attention to every nuance with total awareness.

Mindfulness involves stopping the habits that keep us stuck in the “reactivity” that causes suffering to others and to ourselves. The Tibetan Buddhist author Pena Chodron says that “the root of mindfulness is experiencing the itch as well as the urge to scratch, and then no acting it out.”

Staying in the moment is key.  Staying in the moment, not the past, not the future is what enables us to be able to pay attention to today, to what we are doing and experiencing what we are feeling in our bodies–what we think in our minds.   We can learn what we do by habit.  By ritual.  By rote.

When we pay attention to what we are thinking and doing we can break the cycle.  We can become conscious again.  This does not necessarily mean that we will be happy about the situation.  We may become aware of a pattern of negative thinking or unconscious behavior.  But, by first recognizing the pattern or activity, we can change it.

So, while you might want to run away to an ashram or retreat to learn Yoga and meditation to change your life, you don’t have to do that to gain the benefit of mindfulness.  Luckily there is great research going on in the medical community that identifies the effects of mindfulness on the body.  There is much for us to learn about how our mind affects biology.   But, there already have been hundreds of studies that can demonstrate that mindfulness practices can reduce the negative physical and emotional consequences of self induced stresses.  The result can be less pain and suffering from chronic disease, improved impulse control, better mental health, better communication and emotional regulation.

But, in the meantime, we all need to practice awareness, compassion and empathy by putting ourselves in our neighbor’s shoes before we speak a word.  A little compassion and support goes a long way.

“There is a difference between happiness and wisdom:

He that thinks himself the happiest man is really so;

but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.”

—Sir Francis Bacon, English Lawyer and Philosopher, 1561-1626

We are all fools of a sort.   Life issues us days upon days to wander, learn, love and be productive. Sometimes we take advantage of what life offers.  Sometimes we squander our good fortune.

Life is a journey that takes us through all kinds of adventures while meeting a series of individuals in situations that present themselves along the path.  We enter each doorway on the path expectantly, like a Fool at the brink of a precipice surveying the horizon ahead.  We don’t really know what lies ahead, nor do we really know from whence we came.  It is our folly, our ideas which got us to this point in the first place.  Naive.  Ready to see what will become of the adventure before us.  And we begin, again, another Fool’s Journey.

It is if life itself moves in a great circle.  Ever expansive or ever contracting….the fool can choose.  But, only one thing is clear:  everything moves, everything changes.  It is a law of nature.

The Fool represents the beginning of the journey into the unknown.  When we begin a journey we are innocent and spontaneous.  We have been given a fresh start for new potential from this important opportunity.  What is it?  A new job? starting college? A new romance?  A new baby?  Each time we start into the new adventure we have significant and unexpected circumstances assail us without any planning.  We are pure excitement in this new phase of life.  This new beginning can lead us anywhere.

We might feel confused, dazed from lack of clarity since we have no experience from which to proceed.  Clinging to the ways of the past are a mistake because they are old and worn ideas and methods of relating and coping.  It is time to move forward into a new direction because the Fool is ready to start a new life cycle.  We lose control.  We have to trust that we will be able to cope with our new circumstances as they arise.

The more that we are able to embrace the Fool into our daily life, the more that we are able to innovate, travel, envision, master, dream, and wander.  The more we are able to trust in life itself, the more free movement becomes available to us.  Life is secure when we embrace our Fool.  We can trust life to take us to heights that we never imagined that we can go.

“I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence.

Everything that surrounds us- everything that exists - proves that there are infinite laws behind it.

There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.”

—Thomas Alva Edison, 1847-1931

Edison’s is a man who changed everything for everyone through his fascination with light.

Furthermore, His life will give you another simple insight into a “thoughtful” life, where stunning results stem from contemplation and reliance on intuition and instinct.  He was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio.  If Thomas Edison were alive today, I like to think that he would be living next door to me because he would fit right in with the inventors and entrepreneurs who form the nucleus of Silicon Valley society.

As you well know, he was a high tech inventor in high gear. In addition to my personal favorite invention of his, the incandescent light bulb, his list of accomplishments includes the stock-ticker system and printer, mimeograph, phonograph, a quadruplex telegraph allowing four messages transmitted simultaneously on one wire, and alkaline storage batteries.   A number of his inventions laid important groundwork for the microphone, telephone, X-ray machine, movie camera and projector, and electric wheel chair.

He was awarded 1,093 U.S. patents.  Can you believe how prolific he was?

What he achieved was no more amazing than how he did it.  As a child, Edison was only occasionally schooled, but his family had a library where young Thomas explored the world within the pages of books, becoming familiar with the works of scientists, philosophers, novelists, and playwrights, an eclectic assortment of ideas after which he patterned his thinking.  He found the library and his own explorations of the world to be more satisfying than the constrictions of formal education.

Later when Edison worked in his own laboratory, he still relied upon his own explorations and determinations about what was possible and impossible.  But, he didn’t do it alone.  He would eventually employ over 60 people, all of whom shared his belief that the only limitations on possibilities in technology were the limitations of their own imaginations.

Edison created what we today call a “corporate culture” based on supportive enthusiasm, where his staff was free to interact with him and each other, and freewheel with their thoughts.

When inventing, he would sit at his drawing board and sketch a component for his staff to consider.  While his staff was studying the sketch, he would wander away, deep in thought.  He would read for a while and then return to his lab, where he would delightedly sort through component parts, arranging and rearranging them in seemingly mindless configurations.  Then he would nap, where many people close to him contend that he got clarity.

Edison was living proof that much more information is available when the mind is relaxed and clear.  He would return to the lab after lunch, and review the original sketch, make any necessary modifications, and then work with his team until the project was completed, no matter how long it took, no matter how difficult the solutions were.

From the first rough sketch to successful completion, Edison was single minded and laser focused.  He loved his work passionately.  In fact, he sometimes actually lived in his lab.

He was famous for his ability to concentrate and block distractions, much to the annoyance of his neglected friends and family.  He was totally committed. And completely successful.  He was intelligent, interested in the way things work and his heightened awareness was tuned into super-consciousness.

I want to point out ten of Edison’s traits that are common to almost all successful people:

1.  He read a great deal.  The books he selected represented a variety of topics.  His base of knowledge was broad.  The point is that you never know where the source of your ideas is going to originate or where the information will lead you.

2.  He was analytical.  Although he was reliant on instinct and intuition, he was logical thinker who integrated every mental tool available into this work.

3.  He had great passion for his work.  When you’re doing what you are meant to do, when your thinking is clear and when you have slipped past the lions at the gates of consciousness, Paradox and Confusion, who stand sentinel at the Gateway of Truth, then you function with the highest joy and in the highest integrity.

4.  He worked with a group of like-minded people who shared his passion. He trusted them and valued their input.  He shared his energy with a team.  Together they made things happen.

5.  He knew how to think and made time in his day to do it.  Edison acknowledged the value of sending and receiving clear thought, and tuning in to clear feeling.  The only way to do that is to create quiet and be ready.

6.  He saw himself as a problem-solver.  He knew how to combine and recombine information until something made sense.  How did he know when it was right?  He knew.

7.  He understood the roles of rest and relaxation in the process of seeking answers and solutions.  Not only is a rested, relaxed mind more clear, but the very act of relaxation puts you into a state to send and
receive more easily.  Naps are a wonderful idea.  But if you’re unlike Edison, and you can’t sneak a little nap, then try rising from sleep a little more slowly and give yourself time for gentle contemplation. Or meditate.

8.  He was focused.  He knew how to block distractions.  He didn’t cloud his “receiver” with a lot of static.  He knew how to create and use quiet.

9.  He was disciplined.  Edison was a man with a plan and a man on a mission.  Clearly and surely.

10.  He was tenacious.  He worked until a project was complete.  Failure was not in his vocabulary.  I would be willing to bet you that he understood that failure is the balance to success, and that every failure merely eliminates one more thing that doesn’t work on his way to a success.

If the list seems daunting, don’t worry. While we all aren’t just like Thomas Edison, he sure can teach us a lot about how the mind works.

Perhaps, for us, it will all fall into place as we learn to use our mind’s full capacity, to eliminate self doubt and trust our self as much as Thomas Edison did.

“We may divide thinkers into those who think for themselves and those who think through others. The latter are the rule and the former the exception.  The first are original thinkers in the double sense, and egoists in the noble meaning of the word.

It is from them only that the world learns wisdom.

For only the light that we have kindled in ourselves can illuminate others.”

—Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher 1788-1860

Awareness is what a baby experiences when it takes a first breath.  Suddenly this child is rudely awakened from its state in the womb cognizant of a significant change in mental states and body processes.  Suddenly this child is self-aware.

Perception.  What is it?  Through certain faculties of observation such as sight, smell, touch and other physical sensations, we develop a capacity for comprehension and private thoughts which determine the differences between mind and matter.  We develop an image of our self and create that view as an illusion of a separate identity.  We form subjective ideas about this experience and record them.

We are taught by others, parents and caretakers, teachers, clergy about how the world is to be perceived.  We are given “the word” or language to relate our views.  We learn by doing.  Experimenting.  We are rewarded for choosing proper thinking and punished…for not.

We listen. We learn that  people are not always truthful with you, with themselves. Soon we are forming a framework that is unique to our personality and that we will function with for the better part of our life.  It can be a positive disposition or a negative one, depending on our nature and our early nurturing.

We see incredible diversity in life, in nature, in people.    We can get hurt by those who are supposed to love us or those who might be our friends in school.  The whole scene is amazing.  It can be overwhelming.  The beginnings of suffering starts early.  We begin the waking dream trying to understand what is going on around us.

George Gurdjieff (1877-1949) was a Greek-Armenian philospher who claimed that people do not perceive reality but live in a state of “waking sleep” but that it is possible for a man to wake up and experience life more fully.

The Sanskrit word for this waking sleep is Maya, meaning illusion.  Maya is the word used to describe our perception of the material world in which we live.

Fundamentally, these philosophies are pointing at the same thing:  that our mental abilities create nonphysical phenomena as a powerful view of reality.

Soon, we are old enough to choose whether to believe or not what someone says to you.  When you can begin to see the truth and to see people for what they really are, you can choose not to take anything personally.   You can short circuit the addiction to suffering that is set up and reinforced every day in life.

Of course, there a definite purpose to suffering. Suffering awakens consciousness.  It is normal for us to suffer, to live in fear and to create and recreate emotional drama.  Throughout the world we see this suffering en masse–wars, violence, abuse, injustice, anger, addictions and revenge.  And these situations create personal crisis.  These crises are designed for our personal evolution and to free us from past actions or erroneous thinking.

The purpose of this life is to pursue happiness and joy.  This is possible. It requires vigilance and attention to your immutable nucleus in your person.  But getting there requires us to surface and dissolve the negative emotions that get in the way of pure joy.

Our job is to manage our emotions, not lose control of them.  Gain control of fear.   These negative emotions represent a defilement of your own consciousness and lead to unnecessary anxiety.  Simply stop feeding these emotions.  Stop thinking about the past. Negativity will die of starvation when you learn to substitute a positive outlook and outcome as a considered expectation.  By raising your awareness of how and what you are thinking,  you can surface and dissolve those old, nasty belief systems that are planted like weeds in your garden.

We need to let go of the judge inside.  That judge is holding you back by incessant negative criticism–”I am not good enough, I am not smart enough, I can’t do it”….etc…  By becoming aware of how this inner critic works and how it affects your emotions you can conquer this judge and eliminate the inferior impulses and preoccupations that sap energy and increase alienation.

Silence will help.  Turn off the cell phone. Turn off the TV.  Turn off the radio.  Listen.  You might even find that the beliefs that are controlling the mind are the cause of needless suffering because you might realize that they are coming from your mind and are not real.  You can say STOP any time you want.  Catch the dream that you are living in the act.

Do your best.  Makes us happy.  Because you love it.  You can become an artist and paint a masterpiece of your life by the choices that you make.  You can choose to be aware.  Increased awareness can allow an awakening of dormant faculties that are capable of expanding the mind and overall quality of life.

You can choose to transform any negative energy into positive.  You can become free from the negative emotion that entraps the mind.  You must become aware of the fog that comes over us when we are entrapped by this emotion.   It can debilitate and harm.

Learn from mistakes. Practice.  There are many strong and long held beliefs that live in our mind that can be difficult to overcome. These beliefs took a long time to take root, and they may take time and patience to displace.  But it is possible.  And it is worth the effort.

Working at understanding the workings of the mind takes belief in yourself.  Practice at mindfulness improves awareness.  If you are not aware, you cannot change.

Grow your awareness by letting go of the past.  Just forgive any hurt, let go of anger, and live in the present moment, right here and now. By letting go of the past, you can fully experience the here and now–notice more, enjoy more, love more.  You can awaken from the dream and see what is real.

“We are what we think

All that we are arises with our thoughts

With our thoughts we make the world.”

—Gautama Siddhartha, founder of Buddhism, 563-483 BCE

The quality and quantity of work you produce is dependent on your ability to concentrate.  Functioning at peak performance requires self nurturing so that you can excel at highly creative activities and encourage breakthrough thinking.

There are different types of concentration:

• Focused: The ability to respond to visual, auditory or tactile stimuli.
• Sustained: The ability to maintain a consistent response in continuous and repetitive activity.
• Selective: The capacity to maintain focus with distracting or competing activity.
• Alternating: Mental flexibility that allows a shift of focus to move between tasks.
• Divided: The ability to respond simultaneously to multiple tasks.

Thought is formed by consciousness.  Thoughts just arise; they seem to form and carry on waves through the zero point field.  Some people can receive ideas and images from others.  It is not even clear if we know what we originate or what we pick up.  This does seem to explain how inventions and ideas travel.  We are like a biological radio receiver and transmitter.

Thought is the product of mental activity. The capacity to reason or imagine forms our intellect. The intellect manifests itself with intellectual capacity, creativity or artistic ability, leadership and academic excellence. The things that we think about form our personal depth.  To pursue the intellect is to neglect to form inferior mental images that drag us down.  For that which one thinks is a body of thought.

Using the intellect enables us to use our intelligence quotient to conceive of, to imagine, to understand situations or solve problems. When we are inspired by the fire of creativity we can expect new ideas or bring things into being by mental imagination - like an invention.

It starts with intention.  With purity of purpose.  The belief or opinion that we can get it done.  Then, through a type of mental visualization. mental images or visual pictures ideas spring forth.  With reason, concentration and intelligence we create our world.

Generally, one cannot get outside of our own mental box or intellectual framework.  We have a certain temperament, attitude and aptitude.  A negative outlook cannot help when one is attempting to learn new frameworks, create scientific hypothesis or solve world problems.

The very act or process of thinking or mental activity can weary us when the reasoning is weak or the thinking becomes circular, as in worry.  Worry is a negative and repetitive system of thought that serves no purpose. It produces anxiety and a host of problems.  Worry is the opposite of concentration. It produces nothing productive.

By keeping our thought processes active and clean of degeneration from the shadow or lower self (anger, jealousy, greed and selfish desires) the mind is better able to concentrate on higher principals and gain clarity.  Cleaning the mind from darkness enables us to move to a higher level.  I believe that we can increase our intelligence and creativity this way.

Highly intelligent individuals learn more quickly, deeply, and broadly than their peers. They tend to demonstrate high reasoning ability, memory, creativity, curiosity, a large vocabulary, and remember details. They often can master concepts quickly.  Some people exhibit intelligence in one area but can be lagging in others.  The ability is frequently not evenly distributed throughout all intellectual sphere.

Extremely high intelligence may become noticeable in individuals at different points of development. While early development often comes with the gifted, it is not a determinant. It is well-documented that Albert Einstein did not talk until he was more than 2 years old.  Some gifted individuals experience heightened sensory awareness and may seem overly sensitive to sight, sound, smell and touch. They may be unable to concentrate because of the distraction of the sound of a clock or another small disturbance. Hypersensitivity to external stimuli can cause some to avoid crowded environments.

Other highly intelligent people, however, are able to tune out any unwanted distractions as they focus on a task or on their own thoughts, and seem to seek and thrive on being in the midst of lots of activity and stimulation.

Meditation is an exercise designed to prevent your mind from thinking in a natural way by relaxing the body and senses. Meditation and contemplation place you deep in pure perception and awareness.  You can separate your “self” or the thinker from the thoughts going by.  Just noticing.  Just not thinking so much.

All this goes to just say that a mind is a terrible thing to waste and that life has so much to offer to those who can participate in it fully.  Let a little more light in.  Here are some suggestions:

10 Ways to Focus Your Mind

1. Get adequate sleep
2. Eat healthy food and exercise regularly
3. Eliminate distractions
4. Clear your mind of everything
5. Focus on your goal
6. Free your mind of negative or distorted viewpoints
7. Look at problems in different ways
8. Think about the opposite of your problem
9. Look for analogies
10. Take Breaks

“I’m going to be a superstar musician, kill myself, and go out in a flame of glory. I want to be rich and famous and kill myself like Jimi Hendrix.”

- Kurt Cobain (1967-1994)

In the above quote by Kurt Cobain, he seems pleased with his decision to go out with a bang.  And he did just that.   Could anyone have done anything to bring him from the brink of self destruction?

If only it were so easy to just change our mind and instantly transform from the practical dilemma of mental problems.  Unfortunately, it is not so easy.  Mental illnesses of every sort are unpredictable.  Individuals can alternate between episodes of depression, anxiety, mania, psychosis and wellness.  In the middle of an episode the individual cannot comprehend the problem and indeed believes the problem is the friend or family member.  The person can be very rational in many ways, but not in others.   Anyone around this person finds themselves hurt, dazed, bewildered and confused.

Families perpetuate the cycle of mental disturbances.  While this phenomenon belies the discussion of nature and nurture, both genetic disposition and parenting are factors in the family.  Parents with, shall we say, a different construct of reality, do not usually make the best role models.  Child abuse is rampant in our world, with physical, emotional and sexual abuse among the leading causes of mental illness later in life.

Still, the makeup of a disordered mind is complex.  Everyone comes to this world with a distinct personality and temperament.  These seems to be resident at birth.  There can be organic, and genetic susceptibility and differences between the nervous systems of individuals in our biology.  The brain organization is a significant factor, coupled with the belief system of the individual.  So, as the individual experiences emotion that affect their beliefs, gradually the mind is conditioned to allow the impulses to affect his whole being.

At this point, the mind has taken over and is in the driver’s seat of the soul or the conscious being.  The content of the thinking is on some kind of autopilot.  The individual is at the effect of the thinking and it is negative–blame, shame, distress.  A crisis. A journey with no destination.

A diagnosis of a mental disorder is deeply stigmatizing but should not be.  Depression, anxiety and psychosis are extremely common and often hidden from view from co-workers and friends.  The individuals have their own reality and cannot understand why other people do not see things the way they do.

It is futile to attempt to change someone else or even arguing with them, all we can do is accept that their personal version of life is realistic and valid.  The nature of thought is so personal that it is impossible to try to get a glimpse inside.  Therapists spend years with behavior modification techniques to coax the dysfunctional personality to identify and correct situations where they might lack the empathy to evoke a proper response.

Each of these situations is a lesson in coping for friends and family of the one who suffers.  Anger, abuse, laziness and anxiety attacks may be part of a regular landscape of irregular behavior.

And what about the real problems of the past that may be the cause of the pain?  The only way to dissolve them is to understand them and let them go.  The destructive effects of these thoughts are not real, they are just a function of our consciousness. These thoughts can be kept in perspective.  Ideally, dismissed.

It takes a real conscious effort to come back from the illusions that the psychotic mind has created.

Each and every situation is an opportunity to transform.  There is a fine line between psychosis and a spiritual transformation.  Serenity has to take the place of anxiety as an epiphany takes place.  Perhaps the changes that certain people need to make are so significant that it takes this exaggerated of a personal crisis to gain the sensitivity to search for positive feelings in life.

Mental functionality disintegrates when the life within is in so much personal pain that the soul vacates the premises.  Then, a primary disconnect ensues that separates or divides the person into so many fragments that have been left in the past and covered with pain and denial.

I believe that all people with personality pathology or mental disorders have the capacity to reclaim their wholeness and can transform with sufficient desire.

Thinking is a gift and each of us has the ability to focus on the things that can bring happiness and peace to our self and those around us.  It is our thinking, not the circumstance, that determines how we feel.  Happiness lies in the peacefulness of the present moment, not in the nightmare of jumbled thoughts that the mind is capable of producing.

Staying in the present can produce the level of concentration that enables us to be productive and supportive members of the human race.  When we experience the present moment, the natural state of bliss which is the birthright of all humankind is restored.

If we’re willing to give up hope that insecurity and pain can be exterminated, then we can have the courage to relax with the groundlessness of our situation.  This is the first step on the path.

—Pema Chodron

Science has recently reversed its position that our brain becomes inflexible with the onset of age reversing the old addage that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”.   The new science reveals “neuroplasticity” or how the brain changes itself.  Neurons are created every day in all of us and with repeated activities we can establish new neural networks.

San Francisco based Posit Sciences (www.positsciences.com), founded by Dr. Michael Merzenich, is an interesting new company who is on the forefront of what they call “Brain Fitness” developing software products that exercise the various cortexes of our brain so that we can retain more, stay more active, think, imagine and dream in old age.  The brain has the capacity to change itself with no drugs and no surgery.  Theoretically, this could even help people with strokes, brain tumors, brain injuries and the like.  Pretty heady stuff.

For that matter, the biologists have created the new field of epigenetics, or how genes interact and change with their environment.  The study of epigenetics may one day lead scientists to understand how the mind, diet and exercise, and emotions of the subject can affect our genes to change the outcomes of our propensity to inherit disease.

By thinking differently, consistently, rather than focusing on the despair caused by depression (or vice versa–the depression is caused by the despair) we can awaken from depression and go on to repair the damage that we have done to the brain and its hippocanthus and hypothalamus, areas of the brain that produce memories and emotional responses to stimuli.

Meditation and general mindfullness is one of the most common ways to replace the lost ability to concentrate that depression has caused.  The levels of yoga from Yama to Samadhi are measured in the duration that one can remain with thoughts on idle.  Starting with only 12 seconds.  12 seconds does not seem like much, but it is hard to silence the mind.  Can you?  Samadhi is clocked at 345.6 minutes of concentration.

Many people suffer from a wild mind.  From the moment we awaken in the morning, our minds are busy telling us what to do, interrupting us all of the time.  Judging, evaluating, reprimaning ourselves and others, reminding ourselves where to be, etc.  All of this is just mental chatter, nonproductive mental chatter.  Racing mind.  This is unconscious thought that distracts you from achieving any higher purpose.  Who is in charge, you or your mind?

By quieting down the mind, we can become the observer.  We can observe and understand our thinking.  Here is the first step to mindfullness and awareness.  As you are the observer and owner of your mind.  Your mind, properly trained is available to you as an incredible resource.  Once that is accomplished, concentration can be instituted and with that comes a higher intellect.  With that concentration and observation, then a greater capacity for empathy and compassion can be developed.

The mind is a terrible thing to waste.  All good things come from concentration and listening to the still small voice that is found within.  You might find that you are filled with strength, and courage as you discover what is at the bottom of your heart.