"Gradually, by experiencing the benefits of concentration and insight first hand, you will gain confidence that you have the capacity to endure pain with equanimity, that you are able to let go of destructive habits, and that you are worthy of the joy of a deeply tranquil mind." Shaila Catherine "Wisdom Wide and Deep. A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhana and Vipassana." Wisdom, Boston, 2011.
Mindfulness is not about dogmas, nor any other form of rigidity.
"... challenge all teachings ... There's a lot of baloney out there. Years ago, a wonderful Hindu
teacher ... said, 'The
longer the beard, the bigger the fake.' And he, himself, had a beard
that almost touched the floor.'" Larry Rosenberg. Three Steps to Awakening. A Practice for Bringing Mindfulness to Life. Shambhala, Boston, 2013.
Mindfulness is about trying practices found to relieve suffering and bring about peace and joy, and seeing what effect these may have on your life. If these improve the quality of your life, do them more. If, after a reasonable trial period, they don't, make sure you're doing them properly. If you're still getting nowhere, try something else. You may (or may not) return to mindfulness practices at a later point in life. An excellent approach to statements that seem novel or difficult to understand, is to let them sit, in the back of your mind, asopen questions. Their meanings may gradually unfold by themselves. Research shows that being open and curious (psychological flexibility) has many, profound benefits over it's alternative (rigidity).
When one starts practicing Mindfulness meditation, it's a bit like taking a mini-vacation to a far-off land, where everything is different. When the few minutes of practice end, vacation's over, & it's back to "the real world". Meditation practice may thus initially seem like a brief escape to a pleasant, idealistic never-never land. Too many of us, out of fear, firmly believe (& behave accordingly) that survival in the "real world" demands a very different proactively aggressive approach. A popular poster in the 1970s showed a cave-man-like brute carrying a huge club, with the caption: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall
fear no evil, because I'm the meanest son-of-a-bitch in the valley." The practical necessity of primitive brutishness, and therefore, impracticality of an evolved approach like mindfulness is a surprisingly common, deeply-heldmisconception. Furthermore, stress, like ethanol, can instantly shut down evolved judgment (prefrontal cortex), and suddenly we react (brain stem) as primitively as our cave-dwelling ancestors or cornered wild animals.
People are drawn to meditation practice when they recognize that their usual approach is failing to bring them deep, lasting meaning & satisfaction. People continue withmeditation practice when they experience how effective it is.
Mindfulness is a universal human capacity that fosters clear thinking & openheartedness. The goal of mindfulness is to maintain awareness moment by moment, gradually & progressively developing a greater sense of emotional balance &
well-being.Ludwig DS, Kabat-Zinn J. "Mindfulness in Medicine." JAMA
2008; 300(11): 1350-2.
If meditation is practical & powerful for the people in the documentary below, it can work in your world.
It's remarkable how we tend to oscillate back & forth between extremes. Emotionally, when we're not "on top of the world" or "down in the dumps", we often feel bored! With our sense of control over our environment, we either pretend to have "complete control" or none whatsoever, knowing full well that we need to work together intelligently to maintain reasonable control, over some things, most of the time. The same is true in health care: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2013/06/eliminating-medical-error-through.html
And so too in mindfulness practice. Never practicing sitting meditation at home is one extreme that's quite common in those just starting out. Rarely, some folks spend way too many hours per day doing sitting meditation practice. Clearly, 30-50 minutes, once or twice per day, is ideal for most people who have jobs, families etc. Establishing a regular meditation routine takes some effort initially (at least partially because it's replacing some other well-established routine), but it's very important. You and your loved ones will clearly recognize continuously accumulating benefits from regularly practicing mindfulness meditation.
