The habit of judging our experience locks us into mechanical reactions that we are not even aware of and that often have no objective basis at all. These judgments tend to dominate our minds making it difficult to find any peace wihin ourselves.
It is as if the mind were a yo-yo going up and down on the string of our own judging thoughts all day long.
Jon Kabat Zinn
A very simple way of heightening your awareness to what is going on in the present moment is to draw attention to your sense of touch:
During the day find as many ways as you can to increase your awareness of your sense of touch. For example, notice the warmth of a cup of coffee, notice your fingers touching the computer keyboard, or the steering wheel of the car at a red light. When you wash your hands really feel the touch of the water, and the softness of the soap. When you lift a glass or cup feel the touch of the glass, the coldness or warmth due to the contents. Feel the touch of what you eat and drink, staying with the sensations of the food rather than thoughts about it.
Let go of the idea that the path will lead you to your goal.
The truth is that with each step we take, we arrive. Repeat that to yourself every morning: ‘I’ve arrived.’ That way you’ll find it much easier to stay in touch with each second of your day.
Paulo Coelho
Meditation is about letting the mind be as it is and knowing something about how it is in this moment.
It’s not about getting somewhere else, but about allowing yourself to be where you already are.
Jon Kabat Zinn, Wherever you go, there you are
Seeing beginnings and endings is a vital step in developing the understanding that nothing exists apart from interdependent, cause-and-effect relationships. To see the beginnings and endings is also, in my experience, a great support in difficult times. Early on, as I began to trust in the fiber of my being that nothing lasts, I became less afraid of pain. The fact that everything has an end comforted me. “One way or another,” I would say to myself, “this too will pass.” I was glad I saw that…the end of the day is the beginning of the night, and that the dead rose becomes compost for new growth.
Sad and wistful and lonesome are what human beings feel when they are parted from what they love. They are difficult emotions, but they aren’t problems. They become suffering when we resent them, or resist them, or pretend that they aren’t there. I know that when I struggle with the pain of any loss, the struggle preoccupies my mind and leaves no room for hope. When I recognize the pain I feel as the legitimate result of loss, I am respectful of its presence and kind to myself. My mind always relaxes when it is kind, and around the edges of the truth of whatever has ended, I see displays of what might be beginning.
Sylvia Boorstein
Imagine how it might feel to suspend all your judging and instead to let each moment be just as it is, without attempting to evaluate it as “good” or “bad.” This would be a true stillness, a true liberation.
Meditation means cultivating a non-judging attitude toward what comes up in the mind, come what may.
Jon Kabat Zinn
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