Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Mindfulness and Non-judgement
Jeffrey
Veteran
I recently read this in a text and I thought it was a basic of mindfulness as well as an advanced practice. Here it is:
In mindfulness there is no such thing as success and failure..
When we are mindful it is always good. If we drift in thought while doing the dishes the moment we come back to the dishes or the breath that is already good mindfulness.
The only way it is bad mindfulness is when we get a gaining mind and think the mindfulness is good/bad.
In mindfulness there is no such thing as success and failure..
When we are mindful it is always good. If we drift in thought while doing the dishes the moment we come back to the dishes or the breath that is already good mindfulness.
The only way it is bad mindfulness is when we get a gaining mind and think the mindfulness is good/bad.
0
Comments
So there is no failure in dreaming or in anger and there is no success in blissful states of mind.
The mindful thing to do is to simply make a note of “dreaming” or “anger” or “bliss”. And that’s it.
So when you start to think you’re superman because you are so damn mindful, you just make a note.
“A thought”
My lama I am taking a correspondance course had a story of going to tea at a woman's house. The woman dropped a tea cup and the husband scolded "mindfulness!" My lama I forget what she said at the time but what she was thinking was simply "mindfulness of cup breaking" "ching".
The reason we don't scold is that habit either agitates us or dulls us. Think of the wife and how she must have felt to be scolded, agitated or dulled.
Another example is the sniper. He is very “mindful”. He has only one shot. He watches his breath; watches his heartbeat even. And then – very carefully – he pulls the trigger.
I hope it is clear that something is missing in the “mindfulness” of the sniper.
Surely he is paying attention to what he is doing ant surely he is in the here and now; but he doesn’t see what’s happening anyways. He’s closing his eyes for something.
Mindfulness is also about looking inside and questioning what you see there. What’s going on in my mind right now? Why am I doing this?
It’s not just pulling the trigger without dreaming off.
Imho.
Exactly.
And “heart” could also refer to embracing whatever comes up in our minds.
Non-judgment can have something judgmental about it?
Could there be someone internally scolding; “Judgment!” :werr:
My question was regarding the 'scolding' ("No lapse in mindfulness deserves a scolding.") since I was confronted with a situation today where someone's inattentiveness caused harm. And I was upset and "scolded". Now you are suggesting it depends on the intent whether scolding is appropriate - of course this was unintentional... yet the damage is done. What is wrong with 'scolding' as in expressing disappointment and telling the person it is actually his fault?
"No lapse in mindfulness deserves a scolding. " also contradicts "In mindfulness there is no such thing as success and failure.." because the "lapse" is a "failure"....
With regard to my idea of actual mindfulness I thought of an analogy. When you are lax and drift off as you come back to mindfulness it is as if you were away and then return home to your family. A good relationship to such an experience is like being welcomed back. A bad relationship, well the analogy somewhat breaks down, but it would be like a bad welcome.
Back to your example it is also an art to accept criticism. So I think that both parties were tested and I think it's too bad for the harm caused.