#497 Ethics & True Well-being

     "Ethical value ... is built into the very fabric of consciousness. ... true well-being can only come from expressions of generosity, kindness, & wisdom, while greed, hatred, & delusion will always result in harm."           Andrew Olendzki PhD

     The above statement is not to be confused with a "should", be it societal or religious. People over the ages have come to understand this as a natural law - simply the way things work - much like gravity. Nevertheless, each person seems to need to discover or relearn this for themselves. "Shoulds" tend to automatically generate resistance in us at some level. A less confrontational way of learning wise advice (that seldom sinks in immediately), is by holding it in the back of our minds as a riddle, a koan, or open question - to be pondered over a long time, even a lifetime. Life presents innumerable opportunities to learn experientially how things work. 

Les Lovas watercolor - Blue Rocks, Nova Scotia

#427 Because, and Only Because, It Works

     Instinctively, when we hear advice on what to do, or how to do something, we tend to take the contrary position - something in us wants to do the opposite. Call it stubbornness, resistance, noncompliance, dragging our feet - we don't appreciate "shoulds", rebel against rules, and resent being told what to do! We like to learn from our own experience, despite the inevitable mistakes.
     Mindfulness is all about experiential learning. Mindfulness methods are to be tried and experienced in our own life, practiced more if helpful, and let go of if not helpful at this time. The instructions are handed down from a long line of serious practitioners who've benefited from and have continuously refined this practice - it's all about what works best. When you experience the benefits from practicing, you know it's working.

carizi   www.dpreview.com

#366 Invitation to Live Life Fully - "Be All that You Can Be"

     We have a "… diminished view of ourselves as isolated, as separate, as inadequate, as that which so often leads us in fear to ... keep 'the fullness of life at bay while we negotiate our way into a safe, thin, colorless cage.'
     (Mindfulness training) is nothing less than an invitation to liberate ourselves from the habitual and confining prisons of our own creation***, to begin to listen to the inner callings of the heart, and to literally cook in the fires of direct experience, and in doing so, to grow ripe and savory and complete in who we actually are." 
       Jon Kabat-Zinn

        Santorelli S. “Heal thyself. Lessons on mindfulness in medicine.” Bell Tower, NY, 1999. 

     *** See "Growth" : http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/05/327-ideas-about-happiness-vs-real-thing.html

 

lex32   www.dpreview.com

#336 Meditating - OR - just Thinking?

     Sitting still and trying to think things through is not meditating. Yet having thoughts does not by itself exclude meditating. Useful instructions from well-known meditation teacher Ashin Tejaniya:  

"Trying to create something is greed. 
Rejecting what is happening is aversion.
Not knowing if something is happening or has stopped happening is delusion.

Only to the extent that the observing mind has no greed, aversion or anxiety are you truly meditating.

Don’t have any expectations, don’t want anything,
don’t be anxious, because if these attitudes are in your mind, it becomes difficult to meditate."

     Having greed, aversion & delusion doesn't make one a "bad" or "evil" person, but these do cause suffering. We meditate to scientifically, experientially, learn how life works - how to let go of greed, aversion & delusion - thus reduce suffering, and live with joy.

Anne Bastedo   http://www.serenityimages.ca

#48 Engagement

     As we grow older, we increasingly encounter the complex real-life existential challenges of constant change, aging, sickness and death. We're repeatedly forced to choose our response: some form of avoidance (shutting down) - OR - full engagement (opening up).

     Avoidance behaviours are very common, easy, and lead to psychological difficulties. Engaging with reality is uncommon, challenging, and leads to a peaceful, deeply satisfying life.
     A major component of mindfulness training is noticing and accepting our own cognitive, emotional and physical resistance (avoidance) to even simple projects eg sitting still for 5 minutes. Under the laboratory-like conditions of this training, we learn experientially that it's our resistance, not discomfort, that causes most of our suffering. Acceptance of temporary discomfort, not judging it negatively, but developing a scientific curiosity about its changing characteristics, and persisting in the activity (eg sitting still for 5 minutes) becomes progressively easier, and more peaceful.
     Through mindfulness we learn to remain fully engaged, with valued current action, despite discomfort, (initially) to achieve long-term valued goals. With practice, the present moment expands, we learn to rest in the process, yet quietly, goals also are met. Mindfulness appears to be a training in full (mind-heart-body) engagement - wholeness - itself.

Photo Sonia   www.dpreview.com