Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 142
  2. A Home of Your Own
     … But as the mind settles down, the more obvious areas calm down, and then the other areas become more apparent. And you want to think of everything in the body flowing smoothly together. You can hold an image in the mind of the breath flowing down the spine, down the legs, the energy flowing through the blood vessels, around through the body; whatever helps … 
  3. Appreciating Merit
     … That makes the mind even more generous, even more inclined to think of others. In fact, this practice of dedicating merit lies at the basis of goodwill—the idea that you’d like to spread your happiness around. But first it has to start simply with appreciating the happiness that comes from a harmless action. You want to hold that in mind. Often when … 
  4. When You Care
    We come to meditate because we realize the mind has power. It’s the agent that shapes our lives. It’s not just on the receiving end of outside influences. It has influences coming from within. We want to make sure those are good. There are a lot of qualities that we bring to this. We bring the discernment that realizes that our actions … 
  5. It’s up to You
     … As you try to get the mind to settle down, you follow the question, “What can I do right now that would lead the mind to settle down?” Once it’s settled down, “Am I doing anything that’s unnecessary, that adds unnecessary stress to the moment?” You watch yourself. You watch your stillness of mind. And you see if there’s any rise … 
  6. Joy in the Process
     … One of the reasons why we meditate, getting the mind into concentration, is that if the currents of the mind begin to flow out but we’re solidly enough with our breath, solidly enough with our sense of the body in the present moment, and can see a mind state go out like a current in a river, but we don’t go with … 
  7. Clinging & Its Cure
     … What that comes down to is that you notice how, when a thought comes into the mind and it grabs your attention, there’s going to be a little pattern of tension someplace in the body that’s your marker for keeping that thought in mind. If you can locate that pattern of tension and release it, the thought goes away. Some people have … 
  8. Ekaggata
     … This makes you more sensitive to the speech inside the mind. After all, the Buddha said that when we talk it comes from two mental activities: directed thought and evaluation. These are precisely the things we’re working on as we meditate. You focus your thoughts on something, and then you observe it, you evaluate it. This is how alertness moves inside the mind … 
  9. Determined Goodwill
     … Bring the mind to a state where its well-being is not disturbed by the behavior of others. Get the mind in a good, solid concentration, either based on goodwill and moving on to equanimity, or gaining equanimity through the breath. When you can be determined on goodwill in this way, determined on being mindful of goodwill in all situations, that’s when you … 
  10. The Same for Everyone
     … For instance, in the noble eightfold path, discernment comes first, and mindfulness and concentration come at the end. In the factors for awakening, mindfulness comes first, then discernment, and then concentration comes toward the end. In the five strengths, mindfulness comes before concentration, and discernment comes at the end. The different listings relate to the fact that we do have different propensities and each … 
  11. Right Resolve in Real Life
     … It doesn’t mean that you blow your mind around. It means that wind can blow disgusting things around, but the wind doesn’t get disgusted, in the same way that when it blows pleasant things around, it doesn’t get elated. It’s just wind. So, when there are good or bad things in your environment, try to keep your mind just mind … 
  12. A Soiled, Oily Rag
     … That’s when the mind opens up to something that doesn’t require any effort at all: the ultimate happiness. Notice that that’s not the ultimate equanimity. The Buddha never said nirvana is the ultimate equanimity. He said it’s the ultimate happiness. You don’t turn your mind into a resigned oatmeal kind of state. You find that by letting go, things … 
  13. Peace on Earth
    Peace on earth has to begin right here, right where the body and the mind meet at the breath. Try to develop a sense of harmony here. As you’re focusing on the breath, don’t push it too much but don’t wander away. Give it your undivided attention and see how it responds. If it responds well, stick with it. If not … 
  14. Just One Person
     … We’re looking into the mind. First, give the mind a good place to stay so you can look at it well. Try to get to know your breath really well. Settle in. As the Buddha said, “Leap upward,” or “Leap in”—the word can be translated either way—pakkhandati. Leap up at the breath. Leap into the breath. Grow confident in the breath … 
  15. The First Noble Truth
     … to figure out what it is that weighs the mind down, what puts a squeeze on the mind, and why. In fact, by centering his four noble truths on the issue of suffering, he’s saying that this is the most important issue you’ve got to understand and resolve. And the first step lies in actually seeing what suffering is. When you really … 
  16. Caught in a Thorn Bush
     … If you simply sit here saying, “I wish my mind were quiet, I wish my mind were quiet,” it’s not going to happen. What are the causes to make it happen? You focus on the breath. If the mind wanders off, you bring it right back. If it wanders off again, you bring it back again. This is where the patience comes in … 
  17. The Buddha’s Eight Principles
     … The mind is not going to get into concentration unless you want it to. Even just being mindful, you have to want to be mindful. So, strategically, you have to develop some passion for the path, but realizing that the qualities you’re developing will eventually take you beyond the need for passion. As long as you understand that, then you can follow the … 
  18. Brahmaviharas at the Breath
     … So you want to be able to make the mind as calm and as steady as possible, and then watch, to see if you can catch something you never noticed before: about the way you’re breathing; about the way you’re talking to yourself; about the perceptions you hold in mind, the way you relate to your feelings—all three forms of fabrication … 
  19. Conviction & Confidence
     … We’re stepping back from our usual concerns, our usual appetites, and looking carefully at the implications of our actions, realizing that if we’re going to act in a way that’s responsible, we really have to take responsibility for our minds. And that’s what meditation is: taking responsibility for your mind. So you need the conviction that this is worthwhile and … 
  20. Pulling Out of the Narratives
     … There are more possibilities in the mind than there are dreamt of in your narratives. So try to deconstruct the narratives, see what’s left, and then see what other narratives, other ways of understanding the mind, you could create that would be more useful and productive.
  21. From Darkness to Light
    We sit here watching our breath because the breath is very close to the mind, and the mind is where the problem is. The problem, of course, is that we’re causing ourselves suffering through our own actions. Even though our intentions are done for the sake of happiness, pleasure, and well-being, they end up causing all kinds of trouble. That’s because … 
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