If we can let go for just a moment, if we can relax, if we can fall into the center of now, we can encounter directly the freedom that we’ve all been seeking. It is right here, right now. It doesn’t lie in the future. It’s not going to come when life changes, when the circumstances of our day-to-day reality become different. Freedom is something that’s right in the midst of this moment. When we begin to surrender our demand that life change, that life alter itself to suit our ideas, then everything opens. We begin to awaken from this dream of separateness and struggle, and we realize that the grace we were always seeking is actually right there at the center of our own existence. This is the heart of spiritual awakening: to realize that what we have always yearned for is the very thing, in our deepest source, that we have always been. Freedom is always available to us. In those very moments when we know we don’t know, when we take the “backward step,” heart wide open, we fall into grace. Adyshanti
Tag: Present moment
Teens Day 13: Holding onto our thoughts
Sometimes we find that we like our thoughts so much
that we don’t want to let them go
Pema Chodron
Not getting carried away by the wind
The goal of attention, or shamatha, practice is to become aware of awareness. Awareness is the basis, or what you might call the “support,” of the mind. It is steady and unchanging, like the pole to which the flag of ordinary consciousness is attached. When we recognize and become grounded in awareness, the “wind” of emotion may still blow. But instead of being carried away by the wind, we turn our attention inward, watching the shifts and changes with the intention of becoming familiar with that aspect of consciousness that recognizes Oh, this is what I’m feeling, this is what I’m thinking. As we do so, a bit of space opens up within us. With practice, that space—which is the mind’s natural clarity—begins to expand and settle.
Yongey Mingpur Rinpoche
Teens Day 12: Seeing our thoughts
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Jack Kornfield
Treat today like making a nature Documentary
In mindfulness meditation we learn to be present for things as they are. In doing so, it can be useful to assume the attitude of a naturalist. A naturalist simply observes nature without interfering or imposing his or her views. If a wolf eats a deer, a naturalist watches without judgment. If a plant produces a stunningly beautiful blossom, a naturalist leaves it alone, not succumbing to the desire to take it home.
In meditation, we observe ourselves much as a naturalist observes nature: without repressing, denying, grasping, or defending anything. This means that we observe our life with a non-interfering presence. We can see anger, depression, fear, happiness, joy, pain, and pleasure directly, as they are, without complications. The naturalist’s perspective is one of respect for what is observed. The word “re-spect” is a nice synonym for mindfulness practice because it literally means to look again.
By cultivating a naturalist’s perspective during meditation, it is possible to develop a capacity to be non-reactive. For this non-reactive perspective, we can more easily explore how to respond wisely to whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.
Gil Fronsdal
Why not use all the moments today?
The concept of wasted time doesn’t exist for a meditator. Little dead spaces during your day can be turned into profit. Every spare moment can be used for meditation. Sitting anxiously in the dentist’s office, meditate on your anxiety. Feeling irritated while standing in a line at the bank, meditate on irritation. Bored, twiddling your thumbs at the bus stop, meditate on that boredom. Try to stay alert and aware throughout the day. Be mindful of exactly what is taking place right now, even if it is tedious drudgery. Take advantage of the moments you are alone. Take advantage of activities that are largely mechanical. Use every spare second to be mindful. Use all the moments you can.
Gunaratana
