Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. Inner Worlds
     … Notice the feelings you’re focusing on and the perceptions you’re holding in mind. Try to bring these things together in a good way: Breathe in a way that’s nourishing. Talk to yourself in a way that’s nourishing. If the chatter in the mind weighs you down, pulls you down, blames everything on things outside, you’ve got to counteract it … 
  3. Perception
     … This is one of the reasons why we have to meditate — to get the mind still enough so you can see these subconscious thoughts in action. You have to understand that the mind’s not divided into two sections: the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. It’s just that there’s conscious behavior in the mind and unconscious behavior, conscious events and unconscious … 
  4. Sitting & Walking
     … You begin to see how the mind lies to itself. You’re innocently looking at the end of the path but another part of the mind says, “I have another agenda.” As you ignore that, that’s how the mind normally lies to itself. You’ve got to catch it as it’s going out. And the trick is to watch it go out … 
  5. How to Leave Meditation
    We hear so much about how to get the mind into concentration that we tend to forget the skill of how to leave it. Because these talks come at the beginning of the period, the skill in how to leave doesn’t often get mentioned, although how you leave concentration is relevant to how you get back into it. This talk basically is about … 
  6. Meditation as a Skill
     … It also presents challenges in learning how to get the mind to settle down and stay here as you try to figure out, when the mind is not here, how you can bring it back. That’s the beginning of the discernment you’re going to need in order to see through problems of the mind. The big problem, as the Buddha said, is … 
  7. Confident, Steadfast, Resolute
     … Yet you do know that you’ll need some good qualities in the mind, like mindfulness, concentration, discernment. So you keep reminding yourself that by meditating, you’re not running away from problems, you’re actually developing the qualities that you’ll need to solve unexpected problems. No matter what happens—good or bad—you’ll need mindfulness to handle it well, concentration to … 
  8. Honesty
     … We may like to think that our minds are pure. But wait a minute. There are these problems. If the mind were pure, it wouldn’t have any problems. So maybe there is something wrong in there, something unskillful. The fortunate thing about it is if you *really *open the mind to the light of day, you begin to see that the unskillful motives … 
  9. Many I’s, Many Eyes
     … Also notice when the breath is comfortable, when it’s not, and at the same time notice whether your mind is here or it’s suddenly taken a mind of its own and gone off someplace else. If you catch the fact that it’s gone off, your mindfulness will tell you, “Just come right back to the breath.” Be as sensitive as possible … 
  10. Mindfulness of Death
    When the Buddha talks about the importance of being attentive and alert in the present moment, it’s usually in the context of mindfulness of death—the message being that you don’t know when death is going to come, but you do know there are duties you have to do in the present moment in order to prepare. This is why mindfulness of … 
  11. Go, Do Jhana
     … The fabrications that keep the mind still and steady, that keep the mind engaged in the pursuit of what’s skillful, are the ones you want to encourage. So this practice of steadying the mind, maintaining that still, steady flame, requires both tranquility and insight. And, of course, once the mind settles down, the insight gets more refined. The tranquility gets stronger. In this … 
  12. Faith in Awakening
     … You have to keep that larger set of possibilities in mind. That’s what gives meaning to our actions. As the Buddha said, there are worldly treasures—the treasures of money, gold, silver, land, and possessions—but they’re nothing compared to the treasures of the mind. He gave a list of noble treasures: conviction, a sense of shame, a sense of compunction, virtue … 
  13. Rehab Work
     … You begin to notice how the feelings created by focusing on the breath have an impact on the mind. You also notice how the perceptions of what’s happening in the breathing process have an impact both on the mind and on the way you breathe. You try to calm all of that down. Then you look at the state of your mind. Is … 
  14. Right Effort
     … Hold that perception in mind. That’s one way of using perception to put yourself in the right mind state for dealing with whatever the defilement may be. That’s called exerting a fabrication. So again you’ve got to use your discernment to see when the issue in the mind will go away simply by watching it and when you’ve got to … 
  15. Look after Yourself with Ease
     … It’s cooling for the mind, refreshing for the mind. Or think of the person sitting, covered by a white cloth: Your mind is filled with a bright awareness. These are all images of the mind being at ease right here in the body. You’re not going after sensual pleasures, i.e., the pleasures of contact with the body. You’re going for … 
  16. Set Your Heart on the Breath
    Set your heart on the breath, as that’s essentially what concentration means—to have your mind set on something, to have your heart set on something. In the Buddha’s vocabulary, the word citta means both heart and mind. They don’t draw a clear distinction or a line between the two. This knowing faculty includes both knowing and willing. The two inform … 
  17. The Form of the Body
     … In other words, get the mind to really engage in this aspect of having a body. In that way, the mind can get to know itself a lot better. Its exploration of cause and effect in the way the mind relates to this sense of form gets more and more continuous. When it’s continuous, you see more, especially in terms of connections, cause … 
  18. The Skill of Renunciation
    The Buddha’s description of concentration is that you seclude your mind from sensuality and unskillful thoughts. For most of us, when we hear that you’re going to drop sensuality, it sounds like a deprivation. But actually it’s not. You’re going to be trading one form of happiness for another: the sense of well-being that comes when the mind can … 
  19. Part II : Common Problems
     … This is one of the reasons why we get the mind into concentration, so that we can put it in a position where we can watch the pain and not feel threatened by it. As you watch it, you learn about it. You come to comprehend it. So, focus on the breath. Get it really comfortable. Give the mind the energy it needs in … 
  20. Appropriate Attention
     … This is why we try to get the mind into the present moment. This is why we come to a quiet place like this, so that we cut down on the number of people in our mind. We cut down the number of people first by giving the mind something good to play with in the present moment (the breath), so you can get … 
  21. The Buddha’s Investment Strategy
    As you focus on the breath and stay with the breath, you’re developing good qualities of mind: mindfulness, alertness. As you apply these qualities to the process of breathing, you’ll see that it’s a kind of fabrication. There’s a willed and intentional element in there. And because there’s an element of will, you can change it. You can find … 
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