No idea what an idea is? #58 #cong18

An idea is something ethereal. Certain conditions are essential to ground it.

Essential elements for the generation of ideas are:

1. A quiet mind
2. Space
3. Time
4. Connection
5. I can show you how to create all four conditions

Derval Dunford is co-founder of Suí Mindfulness. She is a qualified MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) and Yoga Nidra (relaxation) teacher and has also studied Stress Management, Hypnotherapy, Aromatherapy, Counselling Skills. She is co-founder of Mindfulness Matters Ltd, and in this role has trained thousands of Irish primary school teachers and children in mindfulness, relaxation, and well-being.
Derval has been facilitating Mindfulness and Relaxation workshops and courses for many years, has worked with a variety of organisations including regular workshops and courses with the HSE, INTO, and Mayo Education Centre, she speaks regularly at related conferences.
Derval’s interest in mindfulness and yoga nidra was inspired by her life challenges. She suffered from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) in early adulthood, chronic fatigue and MCS (multiple Chemical Sensitivity) in her thirties.
Being someone who has a busy mind, is creative, likes to be productive and dislikes wasting time, Derval, not naturally a ‘zen’ type, has come to realise, that the only way she can be her ‘busy’ self, follow her heart and flourish, is to balance the busyness with a smattering of stillness and calm, balancing the ‘doing’ with a little ‘non-doing’. While she is not a fluent Irish speaker Derval created the world’s first Yoga Nidra practice in Irish and bilingually, and co-created the world’s first children’s mindfulness CD in Irish. www.sui.ie

You can contact Derval by email or connect with her on Facebook.

By Derval Dunford

No idea what an idea is?

I have no idea what an idea is really!

What I do know is that time and space are the basic ingredients for a unique recipe, and that a quiet mind is the magic sauce! The remaining secret ingredients are revealed to me in moments of stillness, when I connect with nature, when I connect with like-minded people, when I am in a flow state, and of course in my dreams.

Restriction is the enemy, restriction can take so many subtle forms. Time restriction is top of the list for me, it results in tunnel vision, and a feeling of overwhelm! Without DEADlines I feel that we may be able to live a little more! Time famine constricts my mind, squeezes my heart dry and refuses to allow my body, mind and spirit to welcome a state of ease.

The things I call ideas are fleeting, like a fish that jumps in a still lake, if it weren’t for the ripples I would wonder did I actually see it at all. Or like a drop of rain falling from a leaf, once it hits the ground it becomes invisible, and is lost.

Sometimes I use a tiny net in my mind to capture these things called ideas. Like butterflies they will only land when everything is still and silent. It’s not easy to be still or to hear the silence in a world that whirls around me, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. I know that eureka moments happen sitting under a tree when the apple falls, in the bath when the water overflows, and in dreams!

I’ve noticed that nature contains sounds but no noise, the ultimate experience of silence is in nature. It is a comfortable natural silence, not awkward or enforced. Nature doesn’t do restriction, so being in nature is the ultimate experience of space. Nature cleanses and renews, it is the ultimate experience of nourishment.

I am very aware that it is through the senses I meet and greet the world, when they are overwhelmed I feel cut off. There is no richness, there is no joy, there is no hope. Ideas create hope and fuel passion.

An idea is simply a spark. It can however ignite a furnace, and in the process warm the heart!