Ania Mauruschat
I am a PhD candidate living in Basel, Switzerland but most of the time I am somewhere online. I am always curious and eager to learn and to meet nice people from all over the world.
Location Basel, Switzerland
Activity
-
Perfectly put :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Well, I just can join all the other commentators who expressed their gratefulness: Thank YOU, it has been - and certainly will continue to be - a wonderful journey you introduced me and all the others to. Take care and all the best whishes to the whole team, certainly will see you around again, the latest in September... ;-)
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Neil Biggar
Thank you Neil, this is a wonderful comment, I totally agree and wish you all the best for your further journey!
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
For me this lecture by Craig and Richard is kind of a highlight of all the other, nonetheless terrific lectures.
Still, this one touches in my opinion the core of mindfulness the most. I have noticed within the last years how my life becomes better and better, certainly due to a regular practice of mindfulness.
Somehow mindfulness seems to help me to...
-
P.S.: And here the footnote of DFW on another not the less astonishing statement of Federer:
"(8) Special One-on-One support from the man himself for this claim: “It’s interesting, because this week, actually, Ancic [comma Mario, the towering Top-10 Croatian whom Federer beat in Wednesday’s quarterfinal] played on Centre Court against my friend, you know,...
-
He means it just as a bantery, modest way to make Bjorkman feel better, to confirm that he’s surprised by how unusually well he played today; but he’s also revealing something about what tennis is like for him. Imagine that you’re a person with preternaturally good reflexes and coordination and speed, and that you’re playing high-level tennis. Your experience,...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
In an essay by the writer David Foster Wallace I just came across a description of the magically skilled Swiss tennis player Roger Federer and how he has described his perception of a tennis ball during a match. I think this relates very well to what Craig and Richard said about the amazing mindfulness of top athletes:
" "This thing about the ball...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
A big thank you to all of you involved! And that you also mentioned the musician of the song that has become so familiar and associated with positive feelings makes me happy, too. Just good vibes altogether.
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
One way how I integrate mindfulness meditation in my everyday rountines is to do a 20 minutes meditation every morning, after bathroom and before breakfast. And I noticed, when I do it regularly, actually I am trying to do it everyday, I feel much better, less stressed out for the whole day. Vice versa, if I don't do it in the morning, I don't feel as well for...
-
Thank you, Margaret, I certainly will take this course over again, too! :)
-
Yes, Cyril, I really love it and saved as well as reposted it right away, best lesson about how to achieve something in life: Never give up! :-)
-
This meditation was wonderful! I notice that I am already so used to sit for 20 minutes and meditate that I feel much better afterwards, much more recovered and relaxed as if I only would have sat for 10 minutes. As Monica Garcia-Ives writes below: Also certainly a good exercise before going to bed. Maybe I would be dreaming so weird stuff afterwards...
-
Absolutley! :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Well, I guess you really planted a seed with this course or maybe let's say this course is actually kind of a fertilizer for my attempt to make mindfulness an irreplacebale part of my everyday routines. Thank you so much!
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Wow, this feedback I found especially intense. So many valuable thoughts, metaphors, advices. I am still overwhelmed by it and feel a little stressed out because I am noticing that I am right now too much under pressure to really grasp even a fraction of it. This journey definitely won't stop after the course will have ended next week. I am very much looking...
-
Dear Clare - this sounds like an excellent conclusion.
And in case you haven't read the wonderful comment by Cyril Molony under the week 5 feedback video yet, let me post it here, it resonates very well with your thoughts, I think:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/mindfulness-wellbeing-performance/4/comments/13934431
And I just love the...
-
Thank you so much, Cyril, this is really wonderful reminder to keep on practicing! Love it. :-)
-
Yes, Marguerite, let's do that, let's all work towards these goals of a global mindfulness movement, including a better learning of how to listen! I also strongly reccommend the video by Julian Treasure that Craig refers to in 5.10, because I am convinced that meditiation and being able to listen and thus turning this world into a better, more understanding...
-
Thank you Nanette, actually I noticed that just accepting the fact that the situation is bit messed up, to say the least, already helped. And the attempt to confront it with compassion, love and patience. So, you are absolutely right! :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I liked the "5 ways to listen better" a lot, especially the first one being the reminder of developing and cultivating the ability to listen to silence. I believe that it is essential to become totally calm and attentive to "silence" to be able to perceive everything that is added to this silence, every kind of meaning that is conveyed to us.
And yes, I...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Wow, what a great talk! Thank you for pointing my attention to Julian Treasure.
-
Once again, also still tough, I love it. Will practice daily for at least 20 minutes unguided meditation again.
As the olf Tibetan saying goes: "You should sit for 20 minutes in meditation every day. Only when you are busy and don't have any time at all, you sit for one hour."
;-)
-
Dear Clare,
actually I do unguided meditation for quite a while now and I prefer it to guided meditation by now but I took also a long time to get there. Somehow unguided meditation makes it easier for me to concentrate on myself, noticing when my mind wonders off and bringing it back to present moment. It also feels more pure to me. Sometimes I even seem to... -
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I have been practicing mindfunlness meditation for over a year daily by now, including some shorter breaks of up to max 10 days. And I am convinced it is changing me and my behaviour - although mindfulness of course remains an eternal journey... And still, I hope and believe that it really is having positive effects on my amygdala, preventing it from going...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Lately I experieced an incident which still makes me think a lot: Somehow I ended up in a very complex situation with many persons and their complex relationships involved. My behaviour seemed to make everything even worse and more complicated but I wasn't really aware of it when I did what I did. Maybe I could have been more aware and mindful if I would have...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Rute Miranda
I noticed the same as a university teacher. Fortunatelly the student association at the University of Basel, where I used to teach, offers courses for students to learn to deal with the challenges of studying, especially the emotional challenges and the challegen of time management. I always informed my students at the beginning of each semester about this...
-
Thank you, Marguerite, I just thought the same. If only society would make it easier for everybody to be mindful, e.g. by creating special places and times for the practice of mindfulness at school or at workplaces. This also would help families and collegues a lot to train and develop their "mindfulness muscle", I guess.
-
Sounds like complex multi tasking, poor Richard, having to deal with two quite special personalities at once - the "good, rude customer" and the "christian employee". Strong nerves and good luck for that!
-
Thank you very much, Sherelle, for your very good, detailed answer. It certainly goes in the direction I have been considering by myself but it feels good to be confirmed by your advices.
-
Thank you to all of you for the intersting aspects you mentioned and added.
Let me add another observation: I have to admid that I not only tend not to listen when I disagree but also when I expect it to be boring what the other person tells me, or when the other one is so caught up in their own story and their relationship to other people involved who I...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I am very much looking forward to this week.
As a journalist and an univeristiy teacher I have been kind of a professional communicator but I think it will be of great value to become more concious, aware, mindful about all these acts of communication I am doing on autopilot.
Besided that I have to think constantly of my oldest friend, who often...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Poppy Hunt
Wow, thank you for this wonderful comment, Claire! Keep on going, it sounds so good and encouraging what you write about overcoming your doubts. Good luck for everything!
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I love the fact that this course preaches to possibility of rewiring the brain in a postive, much healthier way than it might have become within the years of being unmindful.
It's this activist approach I like so much. And still: As any kind of activism this means that it is going to be a lot of hard and essential work ahead of us, a lifelong journey....
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Have you ever been kind to yourself when you failed at something or experienced a difficulty or setback?
Yes, actually I have but I notice that now, as it is time to take up the challenges again, I am still a bit afraid of them and wonder how everything will work out. This makes me reluctant, I still tend to procrastinate and avoid to getting started again...
-
Go for it, Laurie, it will be great :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I am very grateful for this course because I am learning so much here, although I am praciting meditation already for quite some time.
I think that especially the practice of self compassion as an answer to fear, procastination and avoidance will help me a lot. I am planning to exercise self compassion practices regularly from now on whenever start a new...
-
Thank you, Lynne, your nice comment encourages me and makes me happy. :-) Big hug to you, too!
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I can't see the birds right now in front of my window but I can hear them and this makes me smile and grateful and happy, as well. :-)
-
As Gary wrote: Yes, this was tough for me, too.
I am facing the big challenge of eventually writing my PhD within the up-coming 9 months and I realized how afraid I am of any kind of failure or rejection. These fears and worries also might have be the reason for quite some time of procrastination and avoidance.
When I realized this within the exercise...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I am enjoy the course very much and I whish it would last much longer. I know that mindfulness is an eternal journey and I would to travel with all the other like-minded people around here much longer!
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Lynda McQualter
Hi Lynda, thank you for your comment, I have the same feelings. Acutally I already participated last year in an offline course on Mindfulness and it helped me a lot, my wellbeing has improved tremendously since than. But this also might be related to the fact, that we founded a group after the course, which meets regularly every first Monday of a month to...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Ania Mauruschat
Actually, I did :-) And it feels much better also I had to realize how much little steps of work are still ahead of me... But: Step by step I will manage this challenge! :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Harriet Kimpton
Thank you for sharing your worries and this positive experience, Harriet! So good to read that you did well. Best wishes for all your further attempts!
-
Sorry, Roger, I am afraid I may have mixed up your statements with the ones of someone else in this long, intressting and maybe slightly off-topic thread.
I absolutely understand that you don't want to discuss anything about religion further more and I appreciate a lot the input you gave to us already. Thanks for that again!
Please let me just...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Ania Mauruschat
Trank you, Kah and Carly, right After breakfast I'll get started! ;-)
-
But Jen, isn't this the video? One can access it on youtube
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I simply can't describe how much meditation has improved my life, my self-compassion and self-esteem in recent years. All I can say is: Practice. The best medicine in the world. :-)
-
Thank you to Roger and to all of you for this very interesting and fruitful discussion.
Being baptised as a protestant I grew up in Berlin, Germany, next to the oldest Buddhist Temple in Europe. And curious as I've always been, I started in a quite early age to go there and ask the monks out... ;-)
As I understood it, Buddhism is more of a...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
By the way, this discussion also made me think of a quote I once read:
"Life is like a camera... Focus on what is important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives, and if things don't work out, take another shot."
Having said this, we of course can't "capture" the good times (see my posting below) but still: Nice memories certainly will...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Acceptance and letting go / non-attachement are probably the most important lessons I learned in recent years.
Whenever I feel sad or disappointed, I remind myself that this is only one moment and that times and my feelings will change again if I won't cling to the negative experience. Same goes for good times, though. But this is just the circle of life...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Ania Mauruschat
Yes, maybe I also like to be stuck sometimes because it feels a little bit like being able to stop time. Which is of course nonesense. But still, I think there must also be some kind of weird pleasure to avoidance and procrastination, as so many people seem to struggle with these behaviours. To go on might also mean to take responsiblity of something. And if...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to SUZANNE BURN
Hi Suzanne! Same with me. Actually I quite my Facebook account for the coming months totally, because I spend so many hours and hours reading, liking and posting, it is unbelievable. Actually I think it is quite addictive. I guess it are these little hits of dopamin Richard mentioned in the video that get one hooked. But I have to admid: Since I resigned from...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Avoidance and procrastination sometimes is a severe problem for me but I did not understand fully yet how the two are related.
I notice that I like to do all the nice things but not the main task. In my case the main task, the important thing it is often writing, journalistic and scientific writing. Especially scientific writing or the writing of longer...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Hello! My name is Ania, I am currently completing my PhD at the University of Basel in Switzerland and at the same time I am preparing for later job applications. As I would love to work abroad in an English speaking country someday, I hope I will learn here how to do it properly.
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Do we have to wait until next week or can we just go ahead?
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Although one might consider them being a bit puerile, the danger of misunderstanding in online communication is exactly the reason why I am so fond of using emoticons. For example they can convey irony, which can be easily perceived in a converstation but often gets lost or misunderstood when tried to express solely in a written way without using emoticons.
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I am constantly learning online, it seems. For instance, I am studying for a higher degreee in Enlish at the moment and I always use my laptop, several online dictionaries, Youtube and Wikipedia. Although the internet helps me tremendously to look up the meaning of a new word, for example, but I seldom can rememer it and have to look it up over and over again....
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Hi there! I am Ania from Germany, living in Switzerland. After having participated in the excellent course "Reading Literature in the Digital Age" I got hooked on FutureLearn. ;-) Now I am taking part in the equally terrific course "Mindfulness for Wellbeing & Peak Performance". Just to see if I could become an even better and more efficient online learner, I...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Glenn Quinn
Absolutely, I agree again. Thank you for raising my awareness / mindfulness in choosing the right word. :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Glenn Quinn
Thank you, Glenn, perfectly put, I absolutely agree. All the best to you and your stuggle, the sturggle for all of us!
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Ania Mauruschat
Thank you very much for reminding me of this great article. I had planed to read it but forgot about it. Now I read it. Terrific!
-
I agree on Steve Jobs as a digital leader, too. Good points of you, thank you!
-
great answers, thanx
-
Thanky, Heitor, love your answer :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Cultivating gentleness and friendliness makes me feel good and happy. What is the point in criticizing, judging and scolding oneself anyway? Whom does it help? No one. This reminds me of what Marylin Monroe is supposed to have said once : "Always, always believe in yourself. Because if you don't, who will, sweetie?" Maybe one also could say: "Always, always be...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Jessica Stark
Jessica - thank you so much for sharing this, such a wonderful story, may this acceptace be cultivated and enjoyed by all of us!
Julie - thank you for the recommendation of the poignant short film. I watched it and now have tears in my eyes and a big smile on my face. :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Albeit my puppy is incredibly playful, she seemed to enjoy it when I brought her gently back. She became calmer and eventually I felt better about myself.
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I love this analogy, too. In my opinion it illustrates so brilliantly how many tensions occur if you treat your puppy with anger and punishment. Being gentle and lovingly is the only way to establish a positive, healthy and constructive relationship! :-)
-
Love your comment, Eleanor. Same with me! Be kind to your puppy and smile at it. :-)
-
You don't have to, I would say. You want to. Right? "I have to" sounds so eager and grim to me, but if you force yourself to do something you and your puppy soon will notice that it doesn't work and won't take your efforts serious anymore. And off the puppy runs again... ;-) I would suggest: Be gentle and loving with yourself, do what ever you do because you...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
What new things have you learned about the stress response and the effect it has on your body and mind? -
What I found most interesting about Dr. Hassed's Video was the scientific proof of the changes a brain goes through due to constant stress reactions.
I once called myself an "adrenalin junky" as I was so trained to work under extreme pressure und...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I used to breath very shallow when I was working under pressure at the radio. My mum even could hear this via the microphone / loudspeakers on her radio at home. Meditation has helped me a lot to be less stressed about work and therefore to keep my breathing calm and steady.
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I used to worry and dwell a lot but as I started to practice mindfulness meditation regularly one year ago, I can noticed by now that I really seem to have changed.
I try to accept what ever life brings, try not to be attached or even obsessed about anything, try to question my own patterns of thought and instead percive what is really there and all in all...
-
P.S.: I think doing something on autopilot can be an advantage, too. Can't it? I shows that you've got a rountine and can handle this task without any problems. E.g. I love to drive on the highway in an autopilot mode, listen to music and let my thoughts float. Is that bad? Besides the pollution which the car causes, of course...
-
For now I am going to cook and eat my dinner mindfully. I am really hungry.
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Wow, thank you, that was amazing! Although I have quite a bit of experience in meditation and do practice it regularly, I never perceived my breath in this courious, concious way, I am afraid. What a nice present!
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I will try to figure our every day for the rest of the week something else to be curious about. By the end I will tell you here, if and how it worked out...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
As being German I never had heard the term "flight/fight response" before and had to look it up:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight-or-flight_response
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight-or-flightI am very much looking forward to learn about alternative strategies to cope with such situations. I used to work under extreme pressure and stress as a...
-
if the others would have an awareness how crucial an effcient and convincing online strategy is for the surviving of our business.
-
You are very welcome, I love the idea of allocating figures to these awful feelings all procrastinators know so well, too :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Great video and great idea to give such a weekly feedback to each course running!
Also a big thank you to the two tutors Jen and Sherelle for they collect the most important questions that come up during a course week and probably give them to Craig and Richard to answer them. But also thank you very much for the very constructive feedback you are giving...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I felt very good and refreshed after the body scan and found it very pleasant to listen to the instructor's voice. Having said that, I of course also noticed how often my mind was wandering away. I am looking forward to train my "mindfulness muscle" so that my mind hopefully will stay more calm in the future. I also stared to practice being more mindful in my...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Ania Mauruschat
You are very welcome and thank you, Maureen, for your wonderful reply. :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Very nice way of presenting the body scan, liked it a lot and made me feel refreshed when I came back from it, although I of course noticed how many times my mind was strolling away... ;-)
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I find the approach of this course really terrific! I joined an offline course on meditation last year and it really helped me a lot, too. The focus was on practicing different kinds of meditation like the "body scan" or "guided meditation" or "breathing conciously for three minutes". And we also looked a lot at our thoughts and feelings associated with...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I think the video of 1.10 is key for everyone who is truely interested in making this world a better place.
We can't change the world and probably we even can't change ourselves very much, but we can change our attitudes towards ourselves, others and the world and therefore we also can change our feelings and thus eventuelly even make this world a better...
-
Dear Judith, thank you very much! :-)
-
Wow, thank you Paul! Great reply. I hope I understood you post correctly - being German, English is not my mother tongue and therefore I am not so good with idomatic phrases- so let me better make sure: I guess the last sentence was meant as a compliment, was it? What exactly do you mean by "most switched on and appeared efficient task master"?
-
Dear Richard, thank you for your nice reply. I think you are really at a very good place in this course, maybe you finally even "arrived at home"?
I just watched the video at "1.10 Mindfulness, self-compassion and wellbeing" and I think its message is so wonderful and crucial for all of us: First and foremost we have to accept ourselves, just as the human...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I really like this video a lot, it offers a lot of answers to our challenges today. And I also think like Ben Weston (see below) that this should be taught at schools. Or that at least teachers should become dedicated practioners of mindfulness to cope with the stress of being confronted constantly with students who are permanentyl connected to the internet...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Ania Mauruschat
I absolutely agree, Julie! I taught as well students between 18 and 22 and it really is a tremendous task to bring them "into the zone". But I am afraid there is no way around this battle, it is our biggest challenge as a teacher to fight all the other seductive offerings. Probably we will have to find out what it is and stress that what they never will get...
-
Actually I don't remerber what it said exactly in the articel anymore and I am sure it was not more substantial than all the great tipps Jen gave to us earlier in this thread. But I just liked the "Instant Gratification Monkey" and the "Panic Monster" and "The Dark Woods" and "the Happy Playground" so much that thinking only about this pictures alone helps me...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
What I found most interesting in the video was probably the discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of new media.
I am convinced that social media websites like Facebook, which are nowadays accessable all the time and everywhere via so many different devices, play a big part in the general increase of the default mode in society.
E.g. when we...
-
Ania Mauruschat replied to Paul Lunniss
I really like the expression "drunken monkey chatter in the back of my mind", I know this very well, too :-) Reminds me of the Instant Gratification Monkey and the Panic Monster, although they are more refering to procrastination and not so much to rumination
http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html -
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Regarding the question "When you’re more focussed and present does that improve performance and executive functioning?" I am convinced: Definitely yes.
As I want to finish my PhD within the next 9 months, I finally deactivated my Facebook account by the end of March. But instead of experiencing the last 8 weeks a "cold turkey" I started to feel better and...
-
For everyone here who would like to procrastinate a bit with pondering about why procrastinators procrastinate - good description and great pictures, though.
;-)
http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html -
I likev very much what you worte, Barry.
For me it was a very similar path that eventually brought me to mindfulness.
And yes, it is a very, very long lasting process of changing one's lifelong learned behaviour and coping strategies. But by now I am practicing mindfulness already for one year regularly (every day 20 min meditation) and I have got the...
-
uses: huge scale of literary texts accessable and interprertable on another level than traditional methods would allow; computer reads differently than human reader cf. gothic novels - number of words vs. gloomy tone; wideing of canon
limitations: distant reading is more related to social and historical aspects, it does not so much allow an insight in...
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
Thank you to Philipp and Hugues for their very interesting, lively and differantiated discussion on such "dry stuff"! And to all the FutureLearners: I hope you watched the bonus track, the outtakes at the end - just lovely! :-)
-
Ania Mauruschat made a comment
I entered Pound, Stein and Hemingway between 1900 and 2016 and I am intrigued by my findings. I think the result of this distant reading tells a lot about the "zeitgeist", e.g. Gertrud Stein was really hip in the 1930s and had a peak again around 1980, which was probably due to the rise of feminist studies by then, I assume?
