Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. A Committed Relationship
    When we meditate, we’re trying to establish a good relationship between the mind and the breath: a relationship of harmony, trust; one where both sides benefit. It’s very much like establishing a relationship with another person. And so it’s useful to think about what the Buddha has to say about developing good relations with another person, and to see where we … 
  3. In Line with the Truth
     … If we don’t develop these qualities of mind, there will be a lot of problems down the line—lapses in our mindfulness, big blank spaces in our alertness—and we can end up doing all kinds of harmful things. That’s because when the mind’s sense of well-being is not really solid, events can change, and the mind changes with those … 
  4. Comprehending Suffering
     … When the breath comes in, where does it come in? When it goes out, where does it go out? What’s happening as you breathe in? What’s happening as you breathe out? What’s a good perception to hold in mind so that you can get the mind to settle down? You’re trying to develop right concentration through right mindfulness and right … 
  5. The Psychology of Virtue
     … It doesn’t mention the mind at all. The mind is the important part of the virtue.” When you look at the training rules, you see that they deal with intentional actions, so they sort out what intentions in your mind you should and shouldn’t act on, and they give importance to that. That creates a standard. When an unskillful intention comes up … 
  6. Control
     … What are you going to focus on to make grow? You can make mindfulness grow. You can make concentration, discernment, all kinds of good qualities grow. It’s up to you. Meditation is devoted to gaining practice in focusing on the right things. Right now, here in this body and mind, you do have the potential for developing concentration and mindfulness. You’ve got … 
  7. The Wisdom of Wising Up
     … This can take time, getting the mind and the breath to settle down together. During that period of settling down, the mind can get discouraged and bored. It can find all sorts of reasons for not staying in the present, which aborts the process. To settle the mind takes not only time but also as few interruptions as possible. Ultimately, though, the mind can … 
  8. What Are You Taking into the Future?
     … We talk about getting the mind into right concentration, into right mindfulness as a refuge: It’s not a place where we’re hiding away. On the contrary, it’s a place where we’re actually seeing what’s going on in the mind, and see how the mind can take anything and create suffering out of it. But if it has skill, it … 
  9. The Wounded Warrior
     … When the breath energy feels good in the body, the body gets stronger, and the mind dwelling in a comfortable place finds it easier to stick with the skillful path. And then there’s mindfulness: What things can you keep in mind right now that are healing to the mind? Sometimes simply reflecting on the body: If you start thinking about your emotions about … 
  10. The Shape of a Circle
     … As long as you have that much of an intention, that much of a mental note, kept in mind, this is what mindfulness means: You keep something in mind. So keep this in mind, the part of you that can always stand outside of your thought worlds, the part of you that can always stand outside whatever the situation you find yourself in, whether … 
  11. Change Your Habits
     … But if you realize that the mind meditating right now is the same mind that speaks to other people, that runs your body, makes plans for the future and thinks about the past—it’s all the same mind—then the question becomes: What habits of mind are you developing as you go through the day? The Thai word for habit, nisai, comes from … 
  12. Heedfulness All the Way Through
     … When the mind gets tired, it slips back into doing unskillful things. So if you’re really heedful, the next strength comes along, which is mindfulness. Here, again, there’s the duality between skillful and unskillful. The basic task of mindfulness is to keep something in mind continually. The formula says to keep focused, say, on the body in and of itself, ardent, alert … 
  13. In the Land of Wrong View
     … Then you can turn that same exploring attitude on the mind. You want to see the mind doing unusual things. The mind is like a face. It has its micro-expressions, its micro-thoughts. The more sensitive you are to the body in the present moment, the more you’re going to see the little micro-thoughts, the micro-voices that come flitting through … 
  14. Purity
     … Where do your actions come from? They come from the mind. Is your mind well-trained? If not yet, then you’ve got work to do. These are some ways of thinking that get the mind in the right mood to practice. You think about the mind, you think about the breath, you make adjustments. But there will come a point where the mind … 
  15. A Good Place to Stay
    Each time you meditate, survey your body and survey your mind. As for the body, are you sitting straight? Do you feel balanced? You don’t have to be ramrod straight, but at least try to have your spine in alignment. If you’re sitting cross-legged, sometimes have your right leg on top and sometimes your left. That way, you balance out the … 
  16. Caring Without Clinging
     … But he said he established mindfulness so that his mind was not overtaken by his sense of dissatisfaction. When the students did follow his teachings, and did gain awakening, it’s not that he didn’t like that. He did like it, but he didn’t allow the sense of satisfaction to overcome his mind. What this means is that the mind has to … 
  17. Worries & Regrets
     … He also taught attitudes to go along with the technique for training the mind: reasons for training the mind, ways to think so that unskillful thoughts don’t come in and take over. In this way, you’re not leaving the mind empty. You’re giving it work to do. One important thing to think about is the principle of kamma, along with the … 
  18. Make the Most of What You’ve Got
     … He said, “Make your mind like earth. When people throw disgusting things on the earth, throw trash on the earth, the earth doesn’t pull away in disgust. “Make your mind like water,” he said. “When people use water to wash away disgusting things, the water isn’t disgusted. Make your mind like fire. When fire is used to burn trash, it doesn’t … 
  19. Cooking Food for the Mind
    Just as the body needs nourishment, the mind needs nourishment as well. And just as there’s good and bad food for the body, there’s good and bad food for the mind. As meditators, we try to learn how to make good food, now to nourish the mind so that its good qualities get strengthened. So as you’re meditating, you can think … 
  20. Love Me, Love My Defilements
    Love Me, Love My Defilements May 3, 2010 A concept that many modern people find very hard to accept is that their minds have defilements. They think that their minds are perfectly fine, with nothing dirty or defiling in them. People can be especially sensitive about this issue because they grew up with the idea of original sin, that they were somehow inherently bad … 
  21. Freedom from Fear
    Part of the formula for right mindfulness, and the means for getting the mind into right concentration, is “putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world.” In times when that’s hard, when you have anxieties about what’s going on in the world, fear about what’s going to happen, you have to learn how to get that fear under control … 
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