What we have to do is really feel the motivation that arises, not from trying to change ourselves but from trying to be ourselves as fully as we can.
Barry Magid, Ending the Pursuit of Happiness
Tag: Practice Tips
A steady awareness
Don’t think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking. Steady practice is keeping mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down. When coming out of sitting, don’t think you are coming out of meditation, but that you are only changing postures. If you reflect in this way, you will have peace. Wherever you are, you will have this attitude of practice with you constantly. You will have a steady awareness within yourself.
Ajahn Chah
Don’t think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking. Steady practice is keeping mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down. When coming out of sitting, don’t think that you’re coming out of meditation, but that you are only changing postures. If you reflect in this way, you will have peace. Wherever you are, you will have this attitude of practice with you constantly. You will have a steady awareness within yourself.
How we speak to ourselves
I tell mindfulness practitioners to listen to the tone their inner voice uses to comment on their experience. I ask them to consider whether, if they had a friend who spoke that way, they would keep that friend.
The moment in which people discover they are not holding themselves in compassion, not speaking kindly, is often startling and always sad. That awareness is sometimes enough to cause the critic’s voice to soften, and the soother’s voice to be heard.
Sylvia Boorstein, I’m Not ok, you’re not ok – and thats ok
Distracting ourselves from where we are
We have all kinds of ways of imagining the future that distract us from actually living in the present.
What sitting practice is really about, is living in the present so that we can actually manifest this precious life in a way that feels right.
Blanche Hartman, Soto Zen teacher, This life which is wonderful and evanescent
Searching to be something
We practice in order t
o become more awake. This includes becoming more aware of the various strategies we use to avoid being with a basic fear. We have numerous ways to deflect any sense of insecurity, of not being in control, of not always being sure of where we are going. So we have a tendency to look to ourside sources or achievements for support, to define ourselves by what we do or by some labels or badges. We are often afraid of just being ourselves, because we have learnt to believe that it is not enough. And one of the preferred ways to deal with this today is that we try harder, we do more.
However, what we find when we practice is that there is nothing to do, and even less to hold on to. There is simply this moment, this breath. Nothing needs to be added to make it compete. We rest in it, and in some way we are complete in it too. We do not have to place more demands on it. We slow down the chatter in the mind. We do not have to search in order to be. And that is the greatest liberation.
The arrogant mind never stops looking for identity, and this identity always defines itself through atributes: “the beautiful one”, “the smart one”, “the creative one”, “the successful one”………. We are always searching for something to be.
Dzigar Kongtrul, Light Comes ThroughI have spoken at times of a light inside, a light that is uncreated and uncreatable to the extent that we can deny ourselves and turn away from things, we shall find our unity in that little spark inside, which neither space nor time touches.
Meister EckhartLearning to be in the moment
One of the best ways to learn to be mindful is to take the dog for a walk. Dogs are always in the moment. They can take the same walk for 10 years and still experience grass in an entirely new way each day. They’re not worried about the past (“Why didn’t my people give me some of that chicken they had for dinner?”) or the future (” I wonder if my people will give me any chicken when we get home?”). All they think about is what is right in front of them: the smell of the grass, the basset hound in the yard next door, the squirrel in the tree across the street.
Alice Domar & Alice Lesch Kelly: Be Happy without being Perfect: How to break free from the Perfection Domination
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