On Mindfulness

I am an artist by profession: I paint figurative pictures in acrylic. So why do I write a blog on mindfulness meditation? Being an artist is very interesting occupation, one never gets bored with the job, and one has to look for new ideas-new stories to paint with skill and talent. The challenge is there: the skill and talent, the execution and the idea. The expectations that my public and I put on me and my work is a burden. My inner critique which was growing and getting stronger with my education and maturity is merciless. It thrives on finding constantly new faults with my work and me; the list of these complaints was becoming so overpowering that there was no space for me to create anything, painting a new picture could be so scary that I simply procrastinated it to infinity. At one point of time I started looking for techniques which could help me to do something with this hard and disturbing criticism. After many years and many self-help programmes I foud meditation-mindfulness meditation. When I close eyes for 20 minutes(sometimes longer, sometimes shorter) I know that I go to the realm of unconditional acceptance. I sit there allowing all the weakness in me to be there without calling it names. If I feel exhausted, angry, weak or forlorn I allow mysef to be that. My critique takes time off and I don’t have to pull myself together, count my blessings or be grateful for what I have; I can simply sit there feeling all that sadness and discomfort in me without thinking about solution, improvements, duties or expectations I have to fulfill. I do not have to pretend, fix or prove anything during this time. Strangely enough when I open my eyes 20 minutes later I feel refreshed, charged with energy and my inner critique is somewhat quieter. And I get energy and power to act, to start and paint again. My vision becomes clear, more focused; my concentration improves. Meditation has cleansing quality. So I become a fan of meditation and simply would like to inform others about it. I supply you with information and you can choose what to do with it. But if you ever decide to learn or even try this kind of meditation please contact me, come to my weekly class. LEARN MEDITATION.