Making Mindfulness Last

One of main reasons anyone comes to a practice of mindfulness, is a sincere desire to experience more peace and happiness in their life. Often they see their mindfulness practice as a temporary refuge from their daily stresses and dramas. And it does work.

Any decent mindfulness practice should deliver a fairly immediate reprieve from the assaults of the mind and world. Unfortunately, for most practitioners, these positive effects are short lived. They no sooner finish their practice than the busy mind revs up again, bringing with it all the pressures of modern life.

While many attempts at mindfulness may lead to fleeting results, that does not mean a more permanent solution isn’t possible. Like a swan attempting to take wing from the surface of a lake, a certain amount of momentum is necessary to achieve flight. The same is true with any mindfulness practice. If we stick with it, and receive the right instruction, breakthroughs are inevitable.  

Ultimately, any mindfulness practice is not about permanently trying to quiet, fight, or control the mind. Not even the saints, sages or the Buddha himself could achieve this. Rather it is about re-discovering that part of us that lies beneath all of this activity. That part of us that is always present, observing the whole process, yet not affected by any magnitude of passing thoughts, emotions or life circumstances.

In matters of mindfulness, understanding is far more valuable than practice. Fully recognizing the reality that what is most true about you, is that which does not change, has life altering implications. You are the intangible, unchanging, imperturbable, simple knowing essence of awareness, that observes everything without resistance or desire. Taking your stand here frees you from needing to respond to the constant stream of thoughts, emotions, perceptions, sensations, concepts, history or ideas about the future.  And while the mind might continue to react and ramble on for quite a while, without interest or identity, it cannot distract you for long.

Even for the most dedicated seekers, this understanding may take some time to ring true. It is a perspective that only has power to the extent it is tested and found to be true, and there are many commonly held assumptions to examine and debunk.  And even after your most scientific vestiges of your mind have exhausted its arguments, it can take additional time for the understanding to fully colonize your being and overcome decades of conditioned feelings.

However, if you are one of the very small minority of souls called to explore this road less travelled, you will find the journey well worth the effort.

 

You can visit Steve's site for business, executive and life coaching, or find him at Google +

 

Image courtesy of Patou at freedigitalphotos.net

 

 

 

 

Close your eyes, fall in love, stay there. - Rumi

Few poets say as much, in as few words, as Rumi. In this one line he captures a lifetime of profound spiritual teaching.  

Close your eyes, and keep turning your attention away from the many objects of the world, mind and body, back on itself with patient affection.  

Keep it there, and resist (by ignoring not fighting) the mind`s persistent, conditioned tendencies to distract you through thoughts of boredom, a need to do, a sense of lack, or a deep drive to change or improve on the present moment.  If you don’t feed any distractions, with attention or belief, you will experience a subtle upwelling of contentment.  

This contentment when experienced via thought appears as understanding. When it is known through the senses, it takes the shape of beauty. And when experienced through feelings, it is felt as love. Really, it’s all just different facets of the one live, knowing, love.   

If you hold on to that felt experience of love/contentment when you re-engage the world, by letting your attention again flow outward, you will not completely lose yourself to the powerful objects of thought and sight.   

This allows you see life through the lens of love, and look at life through Rumi’s eyes.  

Close your eyes, fall in love, stay there.

You can visit Steve's site for business, executive and life coaching, or find him at Google +

Image courtesy of Evgeni Dinev at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It Is The Same Self In All

American mythologist and teacher Joseph Campbell, who studied the spiritual teachings of the world for over 40 years, once observed that the best direction he had found comes out of India.

One of the classic Indian works is the centuries old Avadhut Gita, written by the sage Dattatreya.

An Avadhut is a mystic who has moved past the dictates and conditioning of the human mind and discovered the truth who’s fragrance is wisdom, peace and bliss. Gita simply means “song of. ” In this classic poem/teaching there is one stanza that I believe summarizes a great spiritual truth. It goes:

A yogi has no particular path;

He simply renounces imagining things,
His mind then ceases of its own accord,
And the perfect state just naturally occurs.

When Dattartreya refers to a yogi, he is not talking about someone in expensive spandex who can wrap their leg around their head. Rather he is talking about one who is called by Grace to find the truth of existence.

In speaking of renouncing imagining things he talks of the voluntary removal of attention, belief and identity from all changing things such as; thoughts, emotions, sensations, the circumstances of everyday life, etc.

Whenever attention is turned inward, away from external objects and towards its source, the volume and machinations of the mind subside into the background.

With nothing needing to be resisted, acquired or changed in any way, peace and contentment flourish. Without separation, between in and out, here and there, you and me, all differences dissolve into love.

The yogi directly realizes, at our essence, we are fundamental, unchanging, blissful, impersonal, all pervading awareness. It is the same Self in all.

(Steve is a Master Certified Life and Business Coach. Connect with Steve at Life and Business Coach )

 

Mindfulness: The Cure For The Optional Suffering Of Life

It is a common expectation amongst those engaged in any form of mindfulness practice; meditation, contemplation, prayer, asanas, mantras, etc., that with practice they will achieve a permanent “zen like” state, and from that point on experience nothing but bliss.

Forget about this idea. It is not true and there is precious little evidence that any saint, sage, messiah or yogi has ever achieved such a enduring state.

If you are breathing, you are human. Part of being human is experiencing pain, real physical, emotional and spiritual pain.

However where a good mindfulness practice can make a huge difference, is in limiting the amount of optional suffering we needlessly add to the mandatory pain of life.

It is the nature of the human mind to want to resist and control change. Yet change is the one constant in life. Sometimes change brings pain.  A good mindfulness practice can provide many opportunities and teachings to better accept and learn from the pain of life.

Mindfulness practices also provide many powerful tools to help you limit the amount of optional suffering the human mind will tend to add to any of life’s painful moments. Simply, do not expect the mind to stop resisting change.  Do not expect the mind to cease its compulsion to obsess over any perceived thread. That’s its thing. That’s what it does. Your power is found, and peace is restored, by remembering you can always choose what to put your attention on. 

When the pain of life comes, and the mind responds by going wild with excessive anticipation, planning, contingencies, judgements, resistance, remorse, etc. – simply choose, over and over again, not to feed this suffering with attention, identity or belief.

Put your attention on your: breath, body, prayer, asana, nature, etc, really anything that is here, now. And should you find your attention drifting back to the suffering, simply do not buy the inevitable thought, “you can’t do this”, “this doesn’t work for me”, etc.

Rather, take your attention off that thought too, again and again. It all gets easier with practice.

Coach Steve

Where to Shine The Flashlight of Attention?

Our human mind is powerful and wild. It is capable of helping us create the most elegant solutions to life’s most challenging problems, and also prone to wasting exorbitant amounts of time and energy; judging, comparing, resisting, desiring, fantasizing or otherwise driving you crazy.

It is a gift to even notice the mind’s wildness.

It is a gift to be called to explore and attempt to reign in some of the mind’s most outrageous flights of fancy.

It is a gift to notice that in any mind event, there is the mind and there is some part of your awareness witnessing it.

It is a gift to notice that while you may not be able to choose the thoughts, emotions or moods of the mind, you can at any time direct your attention where you want.

It is perhaps one of the most powerful teachings to coach your attention to rest with affection on your heart. Not your physical heart. Not your emotional center or simply the source of all emotion. Rather let you attention rest on the source of everything.

In other words, if your attention was like a flashlight, capable of shining on anything you are interested in, rather than letting it point outward towards, the endless stream of objects (thoughts, emotions, sensations, etc.)  Turn it inward, on the source of attention, and hold it there.

What do you notice?

A Great Spiritual Teaching From India

Joseph Campbell, who studied the myths and spiritual teachings of the world for over 40 years, once observed that the best direction he had found comes out of India.

One of the classic Indian works is the centuries old Avadhut Gita, written by the sage Dattatreya.

An Avadhut is a mystic who has found the knowledge who’s fragrance is wisdom, peace and bliss. Gita simply means “song of. ”  In this classic poem/teaching there is one stanza that I believe summarizes a great spiritual truth. It goes:

A yogi has no particular path;

He simply renounces imagining things,
His mind then ceases of its own accord,
And the perfect state just naturally occurs.

When Dattartreya refers to a yogi, he is not talking about someone in Lululemon gear who can wrap their leg around their head. Rather he is talking about someone who is called by Grace to find the truth of existence.

In speaking of renouncing imagining things, he talks of the voluntary removal of attention, belief and identity from all objects; things, thoughts, emotions, sensations, etc.

Whenever attention in turned inward, away from objects and towards its source, the volume and machinations of the mind subside into the background.

With nothing needing to be resisted, acquired or changed in any way, peace and contentment flourish. Without separation, between in and out, here and there, you and me, all differences dissolve into love.

The Avadhut directly realizes, at our essence, we are fundamental, unchanging, blissful, impersonal, all pervading, awareness. It is the same Self in all.

Steve