#735 Open Awareness Meditation Instruction

     "... throw out the thought 'I am meditating' and just be awake, with no trying, no agenda, no ideas, even about what it should look like or feel like or where your attention should be alighting … to simply be awake to what is in this very moment without adornment or commentary.
     Such wakefulness is not so easy to taste at first unless you are really in your beginner’s mind, but it is an important dimension of meditation to know about from the very beginning, even if the experience of such open, spacious, choice-free awareness feels elusive in any particular moment. 
     Because we need to get simpler, not more complicated, it is hard for us at first to get out of our own way enough to taste this totally available sense of non-doing, of simply resting in being with no agenda, but fully awake." 
       Jon Kabat-Zinn https://www.eomega.org/article/take-a-stand-in-your-life-by-sitting-down-to-meditate?source=ePromo.OM.FM 

Deep Contemplation

#421 Clarity is Surprisingly Fresh

     Sometimes we're swept up and carried away emotionally with the momentum of the moment. We may ascribe it to going with our feelings or with the flow, but in fact, we're just being impulsive, ignoring most of our other faculties or intelligences - often with negative results. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." It's a bit like getting a tattoo while drunk.
     On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes we get derailed by ignoring most of our other faculties or intelligences and instead of going with emotions, we rely entirely on linear thinking. We allow an insignificant detail, even a single word or phrase to completely turn us off an otherwise reasonable, convincing story or plan of action. All we can think of is how we find one particular detail completely unacceptable. One small item trips the fuse, and we can't go forward. This is an example of black-or-white thinking, being overly critical, using a legal-eagle approach out of context. Example: not being able to enjoy an otherwise wonderful symphony because we couldn't tolerate (our impression of) the first violinist's attitude.
     Mindfulness is somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. The equanimity that develops from mindfulness practice allows seeing external as well as internal events objectively, in perspective, in a balanced manner. Seeing things as if for the first time, with curiosity, with a "beginner's mind" are not slogans, nor even aspirations, but the natural results of mindfulness training. It's inevitable that we keep noticing & dropping distortions. It's inevitable that with practice, we perceive progressively more clearly. Our perceptions become more and more direct. Clarity is surprising and fine.

minzaw   www.dpreview.com

#405 Momentum of our Lives & Growth

     It's fair to say that we tend to develop characteristic ways of dealing with situations, making us fairly predictable (& boring). When we encounter a situation, we tend to see it not as the unique situation that it actually is, but as a "type" or category we've seen before, and so we tend to react to it more or less the same as we reacted to this type before. 
     In other words, "we see things not as they are, but as we are" - the current event a mere trigger that reactivates our "baggage" and so we replay "the story of my life" yet another time. Our story line has the momentum of a long moving freight train. 
     Seeing something with fresh eyes, clearly, for what it is, with "beginner's mind" allows us to respond to it appropriately, according to the present context (without our old stuff spilling all over and distorting the picture).
     The more we practice mindfulness, the cleaner the distinction between the past, present and future. If one paints with watercolors, the longer one keeps using the same jar of water to dip one's brush, the darker and murkier the water gets, and thus increasingly interferes with the purity of color of any paint one tries to apply to a fresh piece of paper - the brush is already colored. Mindfulness practice allows us to use clearer and clearer water (our consciousness) each time - and every new painting has more and more remarkably true & vivid colors.
     See also: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/search?q=helicopter

Ireland

#280 Koans to Guide Formal & Informal Mindfulness Practice

     While taking a walk during lunch break today, I noticed the familiar habit of switching back and forth from appreciating the freedom and refreshing simplicity of walking for its own sake, and my awareness repeatedly drifting off into planning and other stories. Life reflects formal mindfulness practice, & of course, vice versa.
     Whether formally practicing mindfulness (sitting meditation), out walking, or doing anything else, it's helpful to pose a koan or question to ourselves:
          • what if this were the first time I was experiencing this activity (sitting, yoga, tai chi, walking) ... 
          • what if this were the last time I ever experienced this activity ... 
          • what if this activity were to last forever 
          • in each case, what is the optimal attitude, posture, muscle tone - STATE of BEING?
     These provocative questions are meant to be held lightly yet savored in awareness long-term, and experienced physically (instead of quickly 'answered' intellectually), and these work on many levels: 
          • help us switch into beginner's mind - to observe things we've seen before with fresh eyes, without presumptions, in greater detail, much like a curious scientist;
          • allow us to drop the tendency to take unpredictables for granted: living a very long life, or being able to repeat this exact same activity whenever we want;
          • allow our compulsive, anxious striving for distraction / entertainment to settle, much like mud in a glass jar of water gradually settles to the bottom, leaving only clear water on top.
     Try these - see how they effect your practice, formal & informal.

Nova Scotia grapes - 2012 vintage

#120 Openness (Quality 6)

     "Openness = Seeing things as if for the first time, creating possibility by paying attention to all feedback in the present moment."

       Cardaciotto L. Assessing Mindfulness: The Development of a Bi-Dimensional Measure of Awareness and Acceptance. PhD Thesis, Drexel University, 2005.

dspace.library.drexel.edu/retrieve/4264/Cardaciotto_LeeAnn.pdf

     "Beginner's mind", "porousness" and "psychological flexibility" are other terms for openness. Mindfulness training involves gradually letting go of armor - physical, intellectual etc. This requires trust of course. And our bodies have memories too, so there's quite a lag period between when the mind and body are ready to let go of some old wound.

     "Carl Rogers defined fully functioning people as 'allowing awareness to flow freely in & through their experiences.'”
       Walsh R, Shapiro SL. The Meeting of Meditative Disciplines and Western Psychology - A Mutually Enriching Dialogue. American Psychologist 2006; 61(3): 227-39.

Jon Kabat-Zinn "The Healing Power of Mindfulness - Part 3" at Dartmouth College (27min)