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
Meditation is really about paying attention,
and the only way we can pay attention is through the senses, including the mind.
Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves, and our experience.
Jon Kabat Zinn
Appreciative words are the most powerful force for good on the earth. George W. Crane
Most of us would not consider ourselves to be deliberately unkind. However, it is probably true that we miss many occasions each day to be more kind. We ourselves can probably remember occasions when we were hurt by others not doing something – not listening, not noticing when we did something, not being there when we needed them. Being kind does not always mean having to give beyond our strength. The Buddha spoke of making “offerings that cost nothing“, such as a compassionate eye, a smiling face, and loving words. So let us do the simple things, such as being present, or acknowledging what was done or saying words that are within our capacity to say, knowing that our heartfelt words can make such a difference in peoples lives.
Kindness in words creates confidence,
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness
Kindness in giving creates love.
Lao Tzu
Gaps between activities allow our minds to reopen, expand and have original, often time-and-effort-saving big ideas. So don’t walk with your head down, lost in thought. Don’t just text and call folks when you’re driving or waiting. Don’t read the newspaper when you’re in the bathroom. Allow a little space in your life. Doing nothing is the foundation for doing anything – and it’s one thing we Americans are really, really bad at.
So let go of one or two minutes of entertainment a day – and look out upon this life and world.
Waylon Lewis, Huffington Post
It’s a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space.
By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as well as fundamental spaciousness.
Pema Chödrön
Someday
s we find ourselves with confusion in our lives. We are not clear about things or wish for more direction. When that happens I often find that I rush to impose order, in order to make me feel better. But confusion often prompts thoughts, worrying and stories about the future. Staying close to the present moment in nature can ground us and give perspective.
I awoke to the confusion of a new day,
The scraps of dreams, memories of yesterday,
And new cravings creeping onto awareness,
The sun spilling its light over all but the shadows and a cacophony of sound.
From outside and in.
What to make order of? What to let go?
And who makes the choice?
I think I will go down to the river and just watch it flow,
It’s been a long time since I have done
something really important.
David Sluyter
