Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. Evaluating Your Practice
     … Now, to do this, both the evaluation and the directed thought have to use a few other mental qualities as well, such as mindfulness, alertness, and ardency. Mindfulness means keeping things in mind, remembering what you should keep in mind and what things you put aside for the time being. You have a couple of frames of reference you want to keep in mind … 
  3. Discipline
     … One is simply that mindfulness is your governing principle. You want that to take charge. Mindfulness, of course, takes many shapes because it depends on what you’re going to remember, what you’re going to keep in mind. Part of what you have to keep in mind is your willingness to motivate yourself to stick with the practice, what you’re going to … 
  4. Protection
     … what’s coming in and what’s lying latent in your mind, what could be easily disturbed. So you’ve got to be careful, you’ve got to be vigilant, not to pick up diseases from outside, and to watch out for any tendency in the mind to go for those diseases. Sometimes you hear that the problem of the mind is that we … 
  5. Bodies & Minds Outside
    Bodies & Minds Outside October 21, 2013 When describing the various ways of developing or establishing mindfulness, the Buddha talks about being focused on the body in and of itself, internally, externally, or both. And the same with feelings, mind, and mental qualities: You can focus on them either internally, externally, or both. Internally, it’s pretty obvious what he’s talking about: your own … 
  6. Your Intentions Come First
     … As the Buddha said, the mind is in the forefront of all things. The very first verses in the Dhammapada say, “The mind is the forerunner of all dhammas; it’s in charge.” So don’t abdicate the fact that you’re in charge. Take advantage of it. Make up your mind that you’re going to stay here and keep that in mind … 
  7. Full Attention
     … The mind state that stays focused here, that’s the mind. Then, of course, there’s the mental quality of mindfulness, along with all the other factors for awakening. The thinking here is the thinking that tries to analyze how well all this is going. You make adjustments and then evaluate how well it feels. If you sense that it would be good to … 
  8. The Power of Intention
    After an active day like today, you may have to do some active sweeping out of the mind before it’s ready to settle down. Just remind yourself with regard to whatever you did this morning, whatever you did this afternoon: Sweep it out, sweep it out, sweep it out. It’s not a concern right now. What you’re planning to do tomorrow … 
  9. Organizing Your Inner Committee
    Introduction Organizing Your Inner Committee February 6, 2011 As you meditate, you want to bring the whole mind to the breath. Sometimes it’s easy. You’re in the mood, everybody in the mind is in the mood, and they all can settle down. But other times, some members of the committee would rather do something else. They have their other agendas, their other … 
  10. Chronic Pain
     … Is the pain the same thing as the mind? The pain doesn’t know anything. The mind is aware. The pain is not aware. The mind has intentions. The pain has no intentions. Learn to see these three things as separate—the body, the pain, and the mind—and that way, the mind can be there at the same time that there’s pain … 
  11. Alone with Your Mind
    One of the scary parts about growing old is that you get more and more stuck in your own mind as your eyesight fails you, your hearing fails you. They might stick you away in an old folks home where there’s nobody you know, very few people you can really communicate with. What would you have for companionship? Just the contents of your … 
  12. Expanding Your Awareness
    The mind in concentration, the Buddha calls mahaggattam cittam, the enlarged mind, or the expanded mind. There are two ways you can expand it. One is through developing the sublime attitudes: “May all living beings be happy. May they be free from stress and pain. May they not be deprived of the good fortune they have attained. All living beings are the owners of … 
  13. It’s Good to Talk to Yourself
     … Either you had other issues that were gnawing away at the mind, or you’re having trouble keeping track of the breath as it gets more subtle. So you move around and find something else. Or you can focus on the issues that are eating away at your mind. Ajaan Maha Boowa had a very useful analogy for different ways of getting the mind … 
  14. Joy in the Effort
     … So take an interest in your own mind. Take an interest in your experience of the body here, and an interest in your experience of the mind right here. That way, when other things come up—unskillful mind states, things that you’re kind of embarrassed about—you can take an interest in them, too. Your interest is what protects you, and it’s … 
  15. Feelings of Pain
    One of the definitions of concentration is a mind firmly established. We firmly establish it in the object of our meditation: in the breath, or in a meditation word, like Buddho. We try to make sure that it doesn’t fall down. If it falls down, we pick it back up; establish it again. It falls down again, pick it up; establish it again … 
  16. Fabricating the Present
    Fabricating the Present August 20, 2004 Bring the mind to the breath, for this is where everything important is happening. You want to be as still as possible so that you can catch sight of all these important things happening, because most often we don’t see that there’s anything important here. The breath goes in, goes out. That’s all we see … 
  17. Inner Refuge
     … We make up our minds we’re going to stay with the , and it seems like we have many minds all of a sudden and they’re all running off in different directions. Well, it’s not all of a sudden. It’s the way the mind has been all along. We’ve got lots of different voices, lots of different ideas, lots of … 
  18. Meditating When You’re Sick
     … She said, “I don’t know how much I can do with my limitations, but I’m going to try my best,” to be as mindful, to be as alert and keep the mind on skillful topics. It’ll be good for the body but even more importantly it’ll be good for your mind. You don’t want your mind to get dragged … 
  19. Sensuality Is a Fetter
     … The Buddha went on to say that all those varieties of animals come from the mind. You could be any of those animals; you probably have been many of those animals. Yet the Buddha said even that great variety is smaller than the variety of the mind itself. For a lot of us, sensuality is how we exercise our freedom to think, our freedom … 
  20. The Ten Priorities
     … They, too, strengthen the mind. You find that your mind becomes more wide open. It’s a more spacious mind to live in. It’s not totally concerned just with its own issues. You look around and you sense the needs of others. You have the ability to help. This is an important part of the path. It’s an important quality to develop … 
  21. The Skillful Heart
     … The same way when you get the mind really still, get the body really still: The little things that are happening in the mind, the subtle movements of the mind, become very clear. This is the other lesson of discernment, which is that the suffering that’s weighing down the mind is not being imposed on you from outside. It comes from within. Craving … 
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