Monday, April 23, 2018

Transforming Suffering- Cultivating Well-Being

Young Adults (in their 20s&30s) came together for an all day program on the topic of “Transforming Suffering; Cultivating Well-Being” on April 22nd.  The program included meditation, discussion, active explorations of mindfulness and a garden-produce lunch.  We also spent some time outdoors on that beautiful day exploring mindful connection with the natural world.
The discussion included guided exercises on compassion for oneself and others.
The first photo depicts the participants putting their hands in ice water for varying lengths of time and experimenting with various ways of working with the difficult sensations, thoughts and emotions that arose as a result. 


The second photo shows an activity in which random items were covered with a blanket, and the participants had ten seconds to see the objects uncovered and to try to memorize all of the items with the color blue. The items were then covered again and participants were then asked to name as many objects as possible with the color green in them. The activity highlighted the way in which what we choose to pay attention to strongly influences our subjective experiences of reality.