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
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
All we need to do is awaken to the here-and-now
– to stop jabbering to ourselves –
and be present in this moment.
Steve Hagen
Mindfulness is cultivated by assuming the stance of an impartial witness to your own experience. To do this requires that you become aware of the constant stream of judging and reacting to inner and outer experience and learn to step back from it.
When we begin practicing paying attention to the activity of our own mind, it is common to discover that we are constantly generating judgments about our experience.
Jon Kabat Zinn
