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
Mystery presents itself to us in the mode of withdrawal, of silence, of distance
so that speaking about it, if that is to make sense,
always requires listening to its silence.
Karl Rahner
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.
Being satisfied with what we already have is a magical golden key to being alive in a full, unrestricted, and inspired way. One of the major obstacles to what is traditionally called enlightenment is resentment, feeling cheated, holding a grudge about who you are, where you are, what you are. This is why we talk so much about making friends with ourselves, because, for some reason or other, we don’t feel that kind of satisfaction in a full and complete way. Meditation is a process of lightening up, of trusting the basic goodness of what we have and who we are, and of realizing that any wisdom that exists, exists in what we already have.
Pema Chodron, The wisdom of No Escape
