Meditative Awareness
“Life is what happens when we’re busy making other plans” – John Lennon
When we take the time to observe the way the minds operates, we may come to realize that we spend a lot of time worrying about the future or ruminating about the past. While planning for the future or reflecting on the past can be important at times, if most of our mind space is occupied by thoughts of the future or past, we are actually missing what’s happening here and now – our child’s accomplishment, the warmth of the sun on our face, or the kind gesture of a passerby. The mind can fall out of synchronization with the body and we might notice that our health is out of balance or we may even become sick. We can miss important cues that cause our relationships to spin out of control, or at the very least, they can feel stale and distant.
Mindfulness/awareness is about being present for, and relating directly with, our lives whether we are working, walking the dog, or just having a meal. This state of being is not something we have to acquire, but rather it’s a quality that we already posses. We can re-discover this natural quality through the practice of meditation.
In the practice of meditation, we observe everything that arises in our consciousness without judgment. Our intention is to be fully aware of what is going on in the present moment. Often our breath and our natural rhythm of inhaling and exhaling, is used as an anchor to the present moment in meditation. Whatever thoughts, sounds, images, ideas, or feelings arise, we invite with curiosity in our practice. Everything is welcomed and there's really no way to "do it wrong". We simply train ourselves to pay attention to our moment-to-moment experience without judgment. In doing so, w can begin to see more clearly, behave more compassionately toward ourselves as well as others, and even discover greater meaning in our lives.
We can approach all experiences in life with meditative awareness. From this state of openhearted presence we can feel more empowered to effectively work with anxiety and depression, parenting stress, work stress, and/or relationship challenges. Mindfulness training is now even being prescribed by medical doctors as a way of working with chronic pain and illness.
“Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. It is all we ever have, so we might as well work with it rather than struggling against it. We might as well make it our friend and teacher rather than our enemy.” – Pema Chodron
Resources
Books:
Choosing Compassion: How to Be of Benefit in a World That Needs Our Love, Anam Thubten
The Fragrance of Emptiness: A Commentary on the Heart Sutra, Anam Thubten
Embracing Each Moment, Anam Thubten (also No Self/No Problem, Magic of Awareness, and Fragrance of Emptiness)
When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chödrön (also The Places That Scare You and more)
Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation, Ange Kyodo Williams
Wake Up to Your Life, Ken McLeod
Radical Acceptance, Tara Brach
Wherever You Go There You Are, Jon Kabat-Zinn (also Full Catastrophe Living)
No Time Like the Present, Jack Kornfield
Everyday Zen, Charlotte Joko Beck
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Peace is Every Step, Thich Nhat Hanh
The Art of Happiness, The Dalai Lama
For caregivers: Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine, Saki Santorelli
Audio:
Various Dharma Talks by Anam Thubten (Mp3 download), Dharmata Online Store
The Power of Meditation:Teachings and Guided Practices to Calm the Mind and Open the Heart, Sounds True
Video:
Good Medicine: How to Turn Pain into Compassion with Tonglen Meditation (Pema Chödrön), Sounds True
Apps
Headspace
Insight Timer
