Mindfulness Tools

As I prepare posts about practicing patience and dealing with the resistance of aversion, I wanted to share some simple little tools to help slow us down a bit during our busy, often too busy, days. Having moments of pause and reflection throughout the day may seem counter productive, when we are attempting to multitask and get things done. But actually, pausing throughout the day helps with better focus and concentration, reduces stress and helps with clarity of mind, all of which helps with productivity.
So, in addition to our daily sitting practice, we can use the following tools during our working, active daily life to carry the energy of our sitting with us.  I have also included a couple of tools for timing sitting meditation practice, which can be a big help in facilitating concentration by eliminating the need to watch a clock. 

The Mindfulness Bell rings periodically during the day, to give you the opportunity to hold on for a moment and consider what you are currently doing, and in what state of mind you are while you are doing it. According to the Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, this is an effective means of developing mindfulness.If you wonder where the "menu button" is: it is the three little dots in the corner of the screen, next to the "back", "home" and "switch apps" button.

Download Mindfulness Bell

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With the MindfulClock you turn your device into a Bell of Mindfulness. During the day, it will periodically invite the bell and gives you the opportunity to pause, and enjoy the present moment in mindfulness.

The MindfulClock is programmed in Python with the GUI toolkit wxPython. It runs on all platforms which support Python and wxPython, but it has been especially designed for Ubuntu.

Download MindfulClock

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Bell of Mindfulness.  In the busy time of our daily life, we let our mind float away to many distractions. We forget about our body, our breath, and our mind; we forget about the unity of our mind and body. In order to remind us of this unification, the bell of mindfulness is meant for us to bring our mind back to our body. When we hear the sound of the bell, please stop what we are doing and take three breaths to bring our mind back to our body. Let this unification happen and be happy in the present moment.

Download Bell of Mindfulness for Chrome
Download Bell of Mindfulness for FireFox

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Time Out. It is very easy to fall into bad habits when using a computer for hours on end. You care about what you are doing, so can sometimes push yourself too far, or over-strain yourself. The human body isn’t built to sit in one position for endless hours, gripping a mouse or typing on the keyboard. Dejal Time Out is here to help. It will gently remind you to take a break on a regular basis.

Download Time Out

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Meaning to Pause. This bracelet provides a private, gentle vibration every 90 or 60 minutes, prompting you to pause from whatever you are doing and reframe your thoughts. There are endless ways to decide how you will use your pauses throughout the day.

Visit Meaning to Pause  
Use discount code SHAMBHALA2015 before March 15th to receive 20% off

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Insight Timer. With beautiful Tibetan singing bowls and a dynamic worldwide meditation community, Insight Timer is the fun, connected way to support your meditation practice.

Now with free guided meditations by your favorite teachers: Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nhat Hanh, Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, Jon Kabat-Zinn and many more.

Download Insight Timer

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Meditation Timer. No matter if you are a beginner or have practiced meditation for a long time, Meditation Timer can help you do it better. You can just focus on meditation without thinking about the time.  Meditation is a classic, simple and inexpensive way to lead you into wonderful state of inner peace and inner calm, and it helps to keep you relax from anxious, tense, worried etc and also stress reduction, meditation enhance your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

Download Meditation Timer