Mindfulness is easier said then done. Especially when they are projecting hateful remarks and a bad attitude - filling your home with negativity. I'm a sponge and absorb my environment. When I lived alone my home was my respite against the crazy world. I need peace and quiet to feel good. I grew up in an alcoholic home and I detest conflict of any kind - yelling, screaming, slamming doors. My mom moved back in with me about a year ago (a total now of 18 years we have lived together). She can make very snide remarks when I'm busting my bootie to make sure she has everything she needs to be happy. Remarks such as - she's aged 10 years since her last birthday...ahhhhh you have lived with me for the past year so what the heck does that mean? Or to mope around for really no reason telling me how depressed she is. I ask her what is wrong - does she feel bad and she says "no". It's a hard journey and we get on much better from a distance - but alas my other siblings do not step up to the plate for much of anything so I will power through best I can...God bless the caretakers!

Thank you for this simple article. I have been doing all the wrong things! My life has turned into some kind of race to tackle everything at once. In my youth I could juggle many things at one time. I found out in my old age I cannot. Neither can I walk as fast as I used to or see as well - and then the fact my hair is falling out upsets me. However I have learned a few tricks to keep my sanity. I care for an old friend that I have known since 1949. He has lung cancer & lymphoma (sp?) and some dementia. Here is one thing I learned to do - After he has asked me the third time the same question instead of "loosing it" I hold my index finger in the air while I leave the room saying "I will be back in a minute". I find when I return he has forgotten all about what he asked. Remember to smile. He also wears hearing aids and forgets to put them in. If I am asking him a question I point to my ear. He understands that and goes to get his hearing aids. These non verbal ways of handling the situation allows me to keep my cool. I guess that is my way of helping my mind keep its' concentration.

It is always useful for me to return to this topic as my father lays dyinģ. I just need to be with him. Quietly. He is withdrawing from life and seeks peace, not nurses fussing over him. It is a four hour round trip drive and I must work on having no expectations when I arrive. I must be open to what IS when I arrive. We have picture of how we want things to be that keep us ( or at least *me* ) from fully experiencing what is happening in the moment.

I definitely need to practice being mindful. My first assignment will be to learn (re-learn) putting my thoughts on one thing at a time and to keep my mind from rambling all over the place.

Excellent article. I think this is information that all humans need to be constantly reminded of. Its too easy to let the reigns be taken away by life, and in turn be knocked off of our center. Thank you for the reminder!

Could it help to try to have love and compassipon for the person opposing your efforts? I know it sure is a struggle, especially when it seems like your efforts are unappreciated.

Being mindful can mean putting your thoughts on washing the dishes ehen you are washing the dishes, putting your mind really on driving when you are driving, instead of allowing it to be ten other places.

You use the friction as an exercise to help you observe your emotions, strugggle with them. Friction gives you an opportunity to work on yourself, if you don't give in to self pity, anger. Whst helps me is to turn my thoughts toward what I have to be grateful for.

How can you do mindfulness when the person you are caring for (and lives with you) is negative and fights you all the time? Doesn't work for me when they're around.

Gurdjieff and Ouspensky wrote about these ideas more than fifty years ago.

My therapists both recommended mindfulness. I can't seem to grasp the concept. I'm a worrier, a dreamer, a half-empty glass person. I even bought a book on learning mindfulness for teenagers. It gives homework assignments which I think is great. I really should go back to the book and tackle it. Mindfulness and Deep Breathing is a must for us. Your article gives us an incentive to learn it.