To acknowledge that suffering has an origin is already an abandonment of sorts. It means rather than thiniking, “I am a victim of a frustrating world that refuses to conform to my wishes”, we acknowledge that suffering is an inevitable part of life and it is something we take into ourselves by the way we react to circumstances.
Ajahn Sucitto, Turning the Wheel of Truth
If the intention is to bring awareness to the direct experience of the present moment, with fresh eyes, then life itself becomes the practice. What’s so powerful about understanding that wherever you are that is the entry point is that it frees us of this false belief that we need to be in a certain head space to train our minds toward mindfulness. In the moments you are doubting, agitated, restless or bored, these are the entry points to the present moment…no matter what is happening in your life at any given moment, that is what you can practice being mindful with.
Elisha Goldstein, A Key Mindful Lesson for us all
Wherever you are,
that is the entry point
Kabir
The greatest support we can have is mindfulness, which means being totally present in each moment. If the mind remains centered then it can’t make up stories about the injustice of the world or one’s friends, or about one’s desires, or one’s lamentations. All these mind-made stories would fill many volumes, but when we are mindful such verbalizations stop. “Mindful” is being fully absorbed in the moment, leaving no room for anything else. We are filled with the momentary happening, whether that may be standing or sitting or lying down, being comfortable or uncomfortable, feeling pleasant or unpleasant. Whichever it may be, it is a non-judgmental awareness, “knowing only,” without evaluation.
Ayya Khema, All of Us
photo 9jules9 of Le Silence, d’Antoine-Augustin Préault.
When we practice meditation we are strengthening our ability to be steadfast with ourselves. No matter what comes up — aching bones, boredom, falling asleep, or the wildest thoughts and emotions — we develop a loyalty to our experience. We sit under all kinds of circumstances — whether we are feeling healthy or sick, whether we’re in a good mood or depressed, whether we feel our meditation is going well or is completely falling apart. As we continue to sit we see that meditation isn’t about getting it right or attaining some ideal state. It’s about being able to stay present with ourselves. It becomes increasingly clear that we won’t be free of self-destructive patterns unless we develop a compassionate understanding of what they are.
Pema Chodron, The Places that Scare you
photo
The engine that makes this go is taking a step back and trusting the body, trusting the breath, trusting the heart. We’re living our lives madly trying to hold onto everything, and it looks like it might work for awhile but in the end it always fails, and it never was working, and the way to be happy, the way to be loving, the way to be free is to really be willing to let go of everything on every occasion or at least to make that effort. So the practice really works with sitting down, returning awareness to the body, returning awareness to the breath. It usually involves sitting up straight and opening up the body and lifting the body so that the breath can be unrestrained. And then returning the mind to the present moment of being alive, which is anchored in the breath, in the body. Then, of course, other things happen. You have thoughts, you have feelings. You might have a pain … memories, reflections. All these things arise, but instead of applying yourself to them and getting entangled in them, you just bear witness to it, let it go, come back to the breathing and the body, and what happens is you release a whole lot of stuff in yourself.
Normal Fischer
photo nicholas a. tonelli
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