Podcast #1: Mindful Creation - Be Part of the Change

This is a special welcome episode to introduce you to this series of podcasts called Be Part of the Change, by your host Reuben Lowe from Mindful Creation.

We’re really excited about the launch of these podcasts.

Here’s what the show looks like today:

Part 1 - First off, is a basic introduction to this episode and what our slogan Be Part of the Change is all about. Reuben shares two short stories with you to touch your heart.

Part 2 - You'll be guided through an experiential exercise to tap into some core personal qualities that you have demonstrated in the past.

Part 3 - And finally you'll be guided through a framework of questions that can help you nurture these personal qualities for future moments where you choose to use them.

How good does that sound?

Let's do this!

Transcript

You are listening to Be Part of the Change,

A mindful creation podcast,

Episode one.

Have you ever felt like you get so caught up in the busy world of doing that you lose track of some of the things that deep down really matter?

By the end of this podcast,

You may find that you choose to do something for you,

Something that resonates with who you are and something that you wouldn't have done if it wasn't for this podcast.

How good does that sound?

Let's do this.

Welcome to this series of podcasts from mindful creation.

My name is Ruben Lowe,

Founder of both mindful creation and our charity,

Act On It.

These podcasts have been created for those interested on making a change,

A change on the inside,

So as to be part of the change to the world outside.

Relax and enjoy.

These next few moments are just for you.

This is a special welcome episode to introduce you to this series,

Be Part of the Change.

Welcome,

Welcome,

Welcome.

We're really excited about the launch of these podcasts.

Here's what the show looks like today.

Part one.

First off is a basic introduction to this episode and to do this,

I want to share two short stories that I think may touch your heart in some way.

Part two,

I'm going to guide you through an experiential exercise to tap into some core personal qualities that you have demonstrated in the past before.

And finally,

In part three,

I'm going to give you a framework of questions that can help you nurture these personal qualities for future moments where you choose to use them.

Okay,

So let's get into part one.

All of these podcasts are about making a positive change in your life.

They're about self growth,

Making a change on the inside.

So what does that mean?

What does it mean making a change on the inside?

Maybe it's about sharing a moment of connection with your friend that has a level of depth to it that you will always remember.

It could be about letting go of the judgments that keep us trapped in thought just to say those words,

I'm sorry.

It could be about dropping the resistance to saying the three words,

I love you.

Maybe it's knowing that deep down there's something that you really want to do,

Something deep in your heart that matters to you.

But it brings up a fear that tells you not to do it.

And you make space for that fear and do this important thing anyway.

There are so many examples of how we can make little positive changes to improve our lives and in turn improve the lives of others.

That's what my passion is.

I'm so honored to be able to do this because now is the time to make that change.

Because right now the world needs it more than ever.

And making little changes that improve your life has a knock on effect to the people that we're around,

Our friends,

Family and other people.

This is what I mean by making a change on the inside.

And when we make a change on the inside,

It has a knock on effect to cause that positive change to the world outside.

OK,

So before we get into this experiential exercise,

Which aims to access some of these core personal qualities within you,

I'd like to give you two examples of my own,

Two stories and share examples of my own.

Moment number one.

When I was younger,

I'd often go out at the weekends and come home in the early hours.

In our family,

We had a small female border collie dog.

Her name was Clipper.

She was a soft and gentle mannered dog whose ears used to go back when she was experiencing connection from others.

I'd come home in the early hours quite often.

Each time on arriving home,

I'd get to the front door.

This front door was mostly glass so I could see her before I opened the door.

She would have heard me coming long before this.

For some reason,

Maybe because it was the quiet hours of the morning,

Clipper would not move from her basket.

She'd be looking directly at me,

Her ears back and the subtle movements of the whiteness at the end of her tail going thump,

Thump,

Thump.

And as I opened the door and I'd softly whisper her name,

Very slowly as I did this,

The speed of her tail would increase.

And then after a few seconds decrease each time.

This is a sweet memory that I have.

In that moment,

It was complete.

There was nothing else I could add to make that better.

And so that's my first example,

A little story there.

And I'm wondering what's going through your mind now.

You may have your own story,

One for yourself already.

I'm going to give you another example now and maybe you'll notice the feelings associated with this example.

Or maybe you'll notice feelings associated with your own example as it comes to mind.

When my daughter was just eight weeks old,

I remember sleeping by her side,

Inches away from her.

I remember some really sweet moments when I'd naturally wake up to check that she was OK.

The streetlight would shine through the window onto this tiny little creation.

And in those moments,

I noticed myself thinking,

This is it.

Nothing is better than this moment right now.

So there's my two moments that I hold close to my heart.

What did you notice?

Any feelings associated with this example or maybe an example of your own as that came to mind?

Some of these moments could be really,

Really simple.

OK,

We're moving into part two now.

I'm going to guide you through an exercise to either expand upon this moment that you may well have in your mind or find a past moment that you haven't quite yet formed in your mind.

But before we have the experiential exercise,

There's this.

Please check out the mindful creation terms and conditions as well as our disclaimer.

So this is an experiential exercise.

Ideally,

You need to be able to concentrate on just this.

Take a moment to tune in to the sounds around you.

So listen to the array of sounds around you.

Just noticing the subtleties of sounds around you and becoming aware of what is already here.

And now,

If you're comfortable with it,

Maybe close your eyes because I'm going to guide you through a simple visualization here.

And this visualization is your own personal memory library.

And in this library are books with images in,

Each one capturing a special sweet moment that you have experienced.

Click through some of the special memories from your past.

Remember,

This is about capturing a sweet moment that you've had.

Recall what you were seeing.

No effort.

Let yourself be still.

Relax.

Let this experience pour over you.

Gently holding this moment and rest in the sweetness of this moment.

Where is that exact point?

Right there where the snapshot of sweetness is captured by your mind.

Now gently let go of this and do this by taking a moment to tune in once more into the array of sounds around you.

Allowing the sounds to just happen on their own accord.

Noticing some of the subtlest sounds around you.

Noticing now what's already here in your vision as you open your eyes.

And so this experiential exercise has come to an end.

If you need a few moments to savor this,

Then feel free to press pause.

Let's move into part three.

Right now I've got some questions for you.

What were you standing for in this memory?

What was important to you?

What were you standing for?

Another way of asking this is what personal qualities were you demonstrating?

And maybe there were some personal qualities that you were being shown.

If so,

What personal qualities were you being shown in this memory?

And finally,

Does this suggest anything that you might like to start again or do more of?

Having had this brief period of reflection,

Two things can happen.

One is that you may feel desirable feelings as a consequence to this.

These often give us the urge to move towards doing things within a particular area of life.

So to do more things like what you were demonstrating in that memory.

The other one is you may have felt feelings that are confusing or undesirable.

I've worked with hundreds of people doing exercises similar to this.

I don't know what response you had,

But I'm here to tell you that any response you had is perfectly normal given your learning history.

Let me make this clear.

So it could be,

For instance,

Feelings of kindness,

Compassion,

Connection.

These desirable feelings speak for themselves.

And we naturally have a tendency to move towards things that bring these experiences to us.

It could be that there's feelings of sadness,

Possibly because those times that you had are gone.

Or that person in your life is now gone.

Or it could be a feeling of guilt,

Possibly because you recognize that you've been neglecting this particular area of your life.

You haven't been having as many occasions like this memory gave you.

And so the reason I'm emphasizing this is because sometimes when I do experiential exercises like this,

People say to me,

But I can't do anything about this because part of my life is gone.

My mom,

My dad,

That particular environment I was in is gone.

And what I say is this.

This exercise is not simply about the recreation of an old memory and feeling good about an old memory.

It's about the creation of a new moment.

And then I say to them,

So in your memory,

What personal qualities were you demonstrating in this memory?

Just like I asked you before.

Because this is about investing more in these personal qualities to create more meaningful moments for you.

This is a beautiful question.

What personal qualities were you demonstrating in this memory?

Because right now you have the capacity to use these personal qualities.

Kindness,

Connection,

Compassion,

Contribution,

Whatever words come to mind for you that are associated with your memory.

So with that in mind,

Let me ask you my final question for this episode.

What small action could you take right now to improve your life using one or some of these personal qualities that you were demonstrating in that exercise?

Let's have a moment of silence before moving on.

If you need longer,

I suggest you press pause until you're ready to continue.

So what action could you take right now?

And if you can't do it right now,

What could you plan to do?

Here's some examples.

I'm going to show some love for somebody I love without saying those three words.

What would that look like?

I'm going to take my daughter to the movies on Wednesday night.

At that moment,

Her eyes fixated,

The subtle movements of her face,

The movie will be irrelevant.

Now what needs to be said here is that these two little examples that I've just given you may well come easy to you.

But making a change on the inside also means moving through the resistance that we have to do something meaningful.

So as I said at the start,

What about things like saying sorry when it's hard to,

Or saying I love you when it just doesn't come naturally?

What about re-establishing connection to that family member or old friend that you had a falling out with and you haven't contacted for weeks or months because of your judgments about who was right and wrong?

If you can push through the initial resistance and do that special something that deep down you know would make a positive difference,

It does get easier.

And when it gets easier,

That's a personal indicator to us that we're making a change on the inside.

In taking action in ways like this,

You're making a small change for the better and the knock-on effect of that may have no boundaries.

This is the treasure within us.

This is what changes the world bit by bit,

Moment by moment.

Make sure you listen to this podcast for the next minute or so for further resources that can help you continue to be part of the change.

If this episode has touched your heart,

Please review these podcasts.

It makes all the difference and in doing so you're helping share free resources to touch the lives of others.

Find mindful creation and follow him on Facebook.

Thank you for listening to Be Part of the Change.

Reviews

Excellent podcast!! Helped put my mind on intense loving feelings that have brought me much joy! Thank you!!

Reuben prompts images and reflections that keep coming back. Equals ongoing learning!💪🏽

Insightful, and heartfelt. It brought me emotions of deep love, connection, joy, as well as sentiment. I’m teary eyed…. this was so sweet and effective. Thank you Reuben. 🙏🏼 💞

Very effective 👍

I listened to this on my way into work today, so I didn’t close my eyes. But what a lovely experience to have, my memories offered sweet moments from my childhood & left me feeling joyful & motivated for my day! Thank you for this podcast, I look forward to listening more & joining your 8 day offering on mindfulcreation.com🥰

Absolutely I cannot wait to support you guys. There’s so much support and love and what you’re doing. I have so much gratitude for that and appreciation and respect and honor ❤️🦋❤️🌈💕✨🙏.

Good stuff!
Thank you!
💟☮️☯️

Thank you very much 🙏

Thank you for this meditation. Looking forward to the next! 🦋

Warm, compassionate voice, I enjoyed listening to this and doing the excercises, will definitely listen to more. 🙏

Oh so beautiful how you described that one moment in time with your daughter & the sun. Loving all this amazing content you are mindfully creating. I appreciate all the time, hard work, heart & soul you so generously give to be the change YOU want to see in the world. You’re an amazing human. Forever grateful.

Thank you.....very interesting🙏🐝😎✌🌈🌞🌹🌻👣💗🌼

Wonderful message❣️ I’ll be checking out your Podcast. 🙏🏻💕

Loved your voice! Very soothing, however the music was not as good. It was bit too much(loud compare to your soothing voice) . U made me revisit some of the sweetest memories of my life. Especially my childhood, very innocent moments. Always loved your work. Good luck!

Excellent! I look forward to listening to more. Thank you!

A good reminder to be more mindful in and grateful for my relationships. Thank you.

Wow! I love it. What a fab resource. I will definitely find out more about you. This is fantastic stuff. 😊😊😊🌈

A Beautiful and Soothing Way To Be Able To Connect, And Highlight The Most Wonderful, Decent Qualities Of The My Inner Self. Thank You 🙏🏽 For Sharing With Us.

Very nice! My positive experience in this meditation highlighted for me that becoming more mindful and aware within the sweet moments of my life will increase my joy and gratitude and thus lower my chronic stress. Thank you!