Mindfulness... discover the joy of present moment awareness

If addictive thinking is robbing you of your peace and tranquility , then mindfulness is the perfect remedy. The restless mind exists in time. Constantly jumping between past and future, the only place the mind can never be is here now.Through the practice of mindfulness, awareness is anchored in the present moment.

Like a cat watching a mouse hole, we simply observe our inner landscape as it changes moment by moment... without commentary, without judgement, simply watching. Everything is accepted as part of what is. In this state of present moment awareness, the peace of the eternal now is experienced.

In unconscious thinking, the mind is unobserved. Thinking is running on auto-pilot, unnoticed. In the act of becoming aware of thinking, the chain of thought is broken. Suffering and thinking always go together. In the absence of thinking, there can only be peace.

So, how do we practice mindfulness?
Like a scientist looking through a microscope, we simply watch what is happening in our awareness... without comparing, without labeling, without analyzing. Everything is directly experienced as it occurs, without passing through the filter of the mind. There is no preference for pleasant mental states, nor aversion towards undesirable experiences. The reaction to the feeling is simply observed. Everything is watched from a neutral viewpoint, as if it were happening to someone else. What is observed is not related to "me" or "mine". There may be awareness of restlessness for example. The habit of the mind is to own it and call it "my restlessness". This tendency can simply be observed.

You can practice mindful meditation with your eyes closed or simply choose to be more mindful as you go about you day. For example, if you are sitting in a traffic jam and become impatient or stressed, step outside of yourself and observe the feeling of impatience with detachment. Whenever you become aware, observe the mental commentary surrounding your thoughts and experiences. The more you develop the habit of watching the thinker, the less of a hold the mind has over you.

Who am I?
By objectively watching your inner experience, you will notice two distinct things:

1. the experiences themselves (the thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations etc)

2. the witnessing presence which is aware of the above

So, which one am I? In order to answer this I would like you to try the following exercise. It will take about 2 minutes.

Find a place where you will be undisturbed for a couple of minutes. Close your eyes and begin to watch your mind. As you become aware of each thought, give it a number. Simply count your thoughts for a couple of minutes and then open your eyes again.

How was it? How many thoughts did you count? (the average person would have had about 180 thoughts in that time!) Was it a peaceful experience? Did you notice your thoughts slowing down through the act of observing?

If you were to do this exercise 100 times, you would discover that the number of thoughts and the content of the thoughts would be different each time.You would also discover that the observing presence... the one who is aware of the thoughts.... would be identical each time. Moreover, the observer in you is one and the same as the observer in me. In fact, the observer in you is present in every particle of creation!

"I" never changes
In the page on how to meditate I will go into this more deeply but would like to offer these three statements to contemplate:

Suffering occurs when we identify ourselves with the thinker.... the small "me"

Freedom from suffering occurs when we identify with the changeless witnessing presence..... the "I"

Mindfulness offers us the choice. All problems exist in "me" and never in "I".



Return from Mindfulness to Mindful Meditation