When I was first introduced to present moment awareness, I thought “this is hard”. In educating myself about my own mind I realized that in many ways my mind has always controlled my life. My habits and judgments and the past have always lead the way. In the beginning I realized if I could just direct my attention away from the stream of thought and disconnect once a day it would be more than I had been doing my whole life. As I began to bring my attention away from the thought stream and into the present moment I discovered a new way of living.
The intention behind developing a calm abiding practice is to develop a non-reactive and non-judgmental orientation to the present moment. Most of our suffering and stress in life comes from us personalizing our experience and continually reacting to life in a way that is purely predicated by our past conditioning. When we are only identified with our thinking this is the only way we know how to answer to life on a daily basis—we know no better.
I always remind students that this practice is a moment to moment commitment. It is important that you see the big picture of developing a mindfulness practice. The big picture is that our ability to evolve and cultivate our inner wisdom is not just for personal reasons. As we elevate ourselves above the bondages of habitual ways of living that cause suffering and pain in our lives, we begin to affect those around us. People begin noticing that we are different and less reactive. It is our presence and example that begins to inspire others.
I truly believe that each human being is here in this life to show what is possible within a human life. Now you may think I am being cliché yet I ask you to cultivate these questions. Why are you here? What is your life all about? When you die what are people going to say about you? If you spend time contemplating these questions and come back to them often enough you will begin to notice one of two things—confirmation or unease. I will handle this in my next entry.
The intention behind developing a calm abiding practice is to develop a non-reactive and non-judgmental orientation to the present moment. Most of our suffering and stress in life comes from us personalizing our experience and continually reacting to life in a way that is purely predicated by our past conditioning. When we are only identified with our thinking this is the only way we know how to answer to life on a daily basis—we know no better.
I always remind students that this practice is a moment to moment commitment. It is important that you see the big picture of developing a mindfulness practice. The big picture is that our ability to evolve and cultivate our inner wisdom is not just for personal reasons. As we elevate ourselves above the bondages of habitual ways of living that cause suffering and pain in our lives, we begin to affect those around us. People begin noticing that we are different and less reactive. It is our presence and example that begins to inspire others.
I truly believe that each human being is here in this life to show what is possible within a human life. Now you may think I am being cliché yet I ask you to cultivate these questions. Why are you here? What is your life all about? When you die what are people going to say about you? If you spend time contemplating these questions and come back to them often enough you will begin to notice one of two things—confirmation or unease. I will handle this in my next entry.
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