Segment Ideas • Interview Topics • Story Angles 2

The Need for a Mind in Repose

“Not only have we lost our natural rhythm, we can’t even remember that we had one”, says author and spiritual teacher David Less.

David Less talks about the mind that has lost its natural rhythm:

• The world we live in is continually pulling our minds and our psyches outward into intense mental activity.

• The pressures and stresses of daily life can strain and twist our sense of inner well-being so that it is difficult to find true relaxation unlesswegoonvacation,andsometimeseventhenwedon’tfindit.

• Over time, this lack of ease in our lives strains our relationships, distorts our needs, and dulls our vitality and creative energy.

• It can drive us into behaviors and decisions we sense are wrong but don’t know how to correct.

• The constant, even relentless, activity of the mind is a reflection of this strained state. With our many daily responsibilities and obliga- tions at work and at home, we rush out and keep a fast pace as we multi-task our to-do lists and talk on our cell phones.

• The rhythm of one thought, followed immediately by another and then another is what many people accept and believe to be the normal state of the mind. It may have become so much a part of your life that you do not believe that your mind can ever experience stillness and quiet.

Meditations in the Heart

“Many people practice meditation to quiet the mind, but ultimately what quiets the mind is an awakened heart”, says author and spiritual teacher David Less.

The heart referred to is not just the physical organ, but rather a certain sensitivity within each of us that can be enhanced through the practice of meditation. Week One starts with the Recipes for Meditations in

the heart, offering five weekday recipes and one weekend recipe with commentary. In the introduction to this week, David Less tells us that meditations in the heart create sensitivity and awareness in the heart. • The beauty and harmony of nature is an expression of my own heart. • The beauty of the Universe is reflected in the face of a child.

• The joy of my soul moves my heart to dance. • The heart is a doorway that is always open.

• Heaven and earth meet in my heart.

• If your heart could see, how would it see you?