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What objects of meditation bring mindfulness into your everyday life?
anataman
Who needs a title?Where am I? Veteran
I learned shamata meditation by attending tne 'Rigpa meditation centre' in London nearly 20 years ago…
After a while boredom set in, so i looked at other practices, and I now prefer meditation-in-action, and that really has started to bring my mind home.
I try to be as mindful as possible but often I find I can, say drive. or shop. or walk, for half an hour and appear to be on auto-pilot with my mind chattering on about my past and future life-story and then suddenly and unnervingly find I am brought back to the awareness of the present time, and that can be quite scary - where did those 20 or 30 minutes go - was I actually present during that period. I have sat in meditation where at the end I have thought, what happened there?
I am looking for any practice(s) that helps me be more mindfully present - and invite your suggestions? Just let me know what brings you mindfulness and what is involved if necessary.
BTW If I think your practice brings me new insight, I'll tell you so, If I think it's awesome - then I'll tell you so, if it's funny, I'll tell you so; and if it doesn't appeal or work for me, I'll tell you so.
Thank you!
After a while boredom set in, so i looked at other practices, and I now prefer meditation-in-action, and that really has started to bring my mind home.
I try to be as mindful as possible but often I find I can, say drive. or shop. or walk, for half an hour and appear to be on auto-pilot with my mind chattering on about my past and future life-story and then suddenly and unnervingly find I am brought back to the awareness of the present time, and that can be quite scary - where did those 20 or 30 minutes go - was I actually present during that period. I have sat in meditation where at the end I have thought, what happened there?
I am looking for any practice(s) that helps me be more mindfully present - and invite your suggestions? Just let me know what brings you mindfulness and what is involved if necessary.
BTW If I think your practice brings me new insight, I'll tell you so, If I think it's awesome - then I'll tell you so, if it's funny, I'll tell you so; and if it doesn't appeal or work for me, I'll tell you so.
Thank you!
1
Comments
I would suggest that boredom is really just not paying close enough attention to what is
and.....
if boredom becomes the barrier that has you switch practices, then boredom will become your Ego's main weapon of choice in dealing with any meditative threats in the future.
My zen oriented suggestion is to
Surrender back into your original practice and if the boredom returns, know it to be the perfect teacher to take you beyond where a thousand other interrupted practices can't.
If what you really seek is stimulation though.......stay with concentration exercises over meditation.
Boredom was a poor choice of words I think.
I have lived a hectic life and am looking to do more things that help me be more 'present' when doing normal things; rather than relying on having to sit and concentrate.
Walking meditation is something that makes people mindful, but what about writing poetry or drawing or playing an instrument - I don't do these things myself but do buddhist practitioners that do feel they are presently mindful when they do?
List of practices that lead to mindfulness:
1. Sitting
2. Walking
3. ……………….
Also, increased my awareness of how many people are not practicing mindfulness all around me.
How is that working for you.
Your starting premise does not appeal . . . just so you know.
You want stuff to do? Stuff that . . .
What? Honestly now?
You want meditation without meditating? You want insight on your terms? Try mindful email reading!
Are we there yet?
that sounds useful
Sitting,
Walking,
Shopping
……………..
Feeding the cat
Riding the bus. Where I live, people thank the driver as they get off
Peeling potatoes
Visiting my elderly friend who is in a nursing home. When I find myself getting exasperated with her, I take care not to show it
Speaking kindly to Mormon missionaries
Do not respond in kind to angry people
The list includes just about everything you do in an average day.
What premises do you refer to?
I asked for people in this community to let me know what objects bring mindfulness in their practice of 'everyday life' (and that might be helpful to me). I want to become more present, but can't sit endlessly for hours on end watching my breath - I am not a monk! I have other commitments.
i don't want more stuff to do, I want to know what I can do with the stuff! I want meditation practices that let me live a life.
Mindful post-reading and posting is something I am doing right now - thanks!
Sitting,
Walking,
Shopping
Reading
……………..
In soto Zen, and in other practices, the focus is on having everything be an expression of your practice. The formal meditation practice is meant to be transportable from your sitting place to where ever in life your next breath occurs. The practice becomes just the meditative exploration of each evolving nano second
but enough about my fantasies.
Why do you have a hectic life?
What choices have you made ( or are making) that elevate the hectic over your practice?
Being hectic doesn't make mindfulness impossible, just more challenging.
The progression or hindrance of a mindfulness practice is really helped by what we prioritize in our lives.
Awareness or ignorance, meditation or stimulation, generosity or greed, love or anger,
selflessness or selfishness, etc.
That breath watching that you told "lobster" you didn't have the time for???
What else do you have to do that prevents you from breathing?
When you are doing the above list items do you feel constantly present and mindful? If you do how have you trained yourself to be present? It sounds like you don't need to sit anymore!
Sitting,
Walking,
Shopping
Reading
Everything
………………...
re hectic: I deleted a lot of the content I was going to post as I felt it irrelevant to the question and would have got people quoting and sub-quoting, and going off at a tangent. But I was a suron but due to my wife's job and recent serious illness am the main carer of 3 kids now (they are in 3 different schools, all have been diagnosed with dyslexia), and after major spinal surgery am supporting my wife get back to a job that is off the scale busy - and I'm not joking!
The point is I do sit and watch my breath, when I am able to, but can't just allocate 8.30-9pm slots everyday. I just want to find some other useful practice(s) te that I can do whilst living normally (and has worked for someone else) that enables me to 'bring my mind back home to the present moment', rather than finding that I am hurtling down the motorway at 70 miles an hour and the last thing I recall is pulling out from my drive 10 miles away.
To recap I am asking if anyone else has a useful 'everyday' practice that works for them, and may be useful to me, and how they do it. Nothing more!
:banghead:
Triage zen
(1) Counting your breaths /1 to 10 endlessly when you can. Lots of possible variations of this but most importantly it reintroduces you to the missing physicality of your existence that your own mentality is overpowering. Don't worry about losing track....Just return to one everytime you do.
(2) Periodically scan your body for arising tension and deliberately relax these areas in conjunction with your breathing exercise.
(3) Full bows when ever some privacy occurs just to accept where you are.
Full bows to you.
It's also been useful to read practical books on how to keep the precepts. One good book is Being Upright -Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts by Reb Anderson.
. . . don't leave home without it.
. . . come to think no home should be without it.
Less haste more speed. In other words careful, attentive action leads to effective action. Chanting on headphones is something I play from an app. However I feel it would be better if I chanted . . .
For us suffering samsara, all practice is triage, until life as practice kicks in.
For example similar to the watching for tension and letting it go, I do a Russian doll visualisation, not yet on the move . . . but maybe in another thread for that.
. . . anyway life to live . . . no time to spare . . .
:om:
I tried cleaning/cooking practice many years ago @evenThird - forgot about that one, but remember it helped keep me present, that was when I had more time to practice as well; yes will try that again.
Thanks guys, that's where even an online sangha can be helpful - spent a long time trying to practice without asking for help...
:bowdown:
bud…dho….1
bud…dho….2
bud…dho….3
bud…dho….4
bud…dho….5
bud…dho….
:bowdown:
While there's no harm in working on it right from the start, establishing mindfulness throughout the day is an advanced practice, and very hard to do without as solid foundation in formal meditation. The boredom which drove you away from sitting is the key problem at the moment. If you can't get the mind still in favorable conditions (no external distractions or responsibilities), you aren't going to have much luck directing it out in the world.
The role of sitting meditation is to get the mind very still so that it's easier to see the causes, conditions and consequences of things like that boredom. Looking for objects which will stabilize your attention during daily life is part of the problem. Your mind is reaching out, reaching out for things. As long as it's casting about like that, you'll keep falling into these deceptive worlds of thought you describe in the OP.
That's not to say that objects of meditation are a bad idea in and of themselves. They are important, and some things make better objects of attention than others, depending on the circumstances. But you're asking a technical question about a fine point of practice when your biggest problem is your overall attitude. You're like a person who wants to learn to read and needs to learn the alphabet but is instead asking whether it's better to digest Infinite Jest in paper or electronic format, because learning the alphabet would be tedious and mundane.
Attitude - can't measure it against your or anyone elses in this place! No comment!
I don't need to know the alphabet when I can naturally speak the language, I don't need to write a dissertation on how to walk, when I can run. This post is about mindfulness, and a personal request to you guys to assist me achieving it
Advanced practice - that will have to be part of the theme of another post. Show me an advanced practitioner, and I'll show him who I am! :rocker: (been wanting to use that icon for a while
My aim in this life is to be awake and present. Despite @hows advice I never got beyond 5 lots of ten before my mind wandered off and bud dho -well I think I nearly made half a minute. I didn't mean to be bored. but my mind likes to wander off.
This clenched fist I am holding up to you now doesn't have anything in it, but it can give you a bloody nose. This oustretched hand that is opened out to you is also empty, but I can still give you a good slap across the face. Chop off my hand and I'll kick you in the balls.
The point is that our practice can be a weapon against our delusion. The other point is I want to practice. Any other point I'd like to make would be pointless.
Mettha xxxx
Your avatar of a wolf in sheep's clothing is awesome btw!
LOL or what
Your expectations are unreasonable. Patience is the grace missing in your practice.
A lifetime of allowing your mind to wander is an enertial force just like the mindfulness you are seeking is an opposing enertial force needed to rein it in. One force is the habit of a lifetime, the other force is the one that you gave up on after how long???
Judging your meditative practice by how little time you can sustain it will not help you with what you seek.
The practice is simply about steadfastly returning to it every time you find that you've wandered away. Time & time again.
OM MANI . . .
[nope no time for that . . .] :nyah:
The only difficulty with this 'self-editing written medium' is that you don't get to know the real person writing this stuff. It gives you time to think (and react) before you respond to a post - I have done a bit of research and can see that the majority of regular posters have personality. The men tend to dominate the threads a bit too much but the women, are softer and more honest and open-hearted.
Will you be honest with me and yourself as to how often do you really sit and mediate, and are you a member of a monastic order - that would explain a lot for me - send me a personal 1 line message if this is so? Obviously you are in the Zen tradition. I liked Zen and the book 'Zen mind, beginners mind' out found out that Suzuki Roshi didn't write the book with the fly in it...
Each day I sleep for about 6-8 hours, do parental and other family/house/keeping chores for another 6-8 hours, deal with other unanticipated stuff for another couple of hours, exercise (not as much as I should) for another hour every couple of days on average. Then there is general socialisation and relaxation, idle chatter, then I need to pee or shit, etc. So am not left with much time to 'sit' each day. Time just flies by... but thankfully the buddha taught there was more than 1 way to become awakened. Maybe I am not one to be be conventionally awakened, rather I will be poked in the back, and my true nature will say" hey you've mastered yourself, and then I'll say really, what now?
Maybe.
Maybe unlikely.
Enough chat from me. Time to sit. I think one of the pigs has landed. Bacon for breakfast? :vimp:
Nothing says "I don't want to meditate right now " like our analysis of our meditation.
One either meditates or one analyses it... but seldom both.
You have a very demanding set of conditions to live with right now but any or all of them can be shared with your mindfulness practice. It is completely your choice!
Each time you return to mindfulness from mindlessness, you are patterning the priorities in your life. Those priorities become accumulative and can eventually sweep you along with their own spiritual momentum.
Asking me how often I really meditate indicates either how different our views are of what we think meditation is or that the gist of my postings has completely missed it's mark.
For the last 40 years I usually formally sit for 30 minutes, twice a day but unless one lets their life unfold as a reflection of that meditation, they are missing the point of it.
All I know is that each moment is meditatively the totality of our existence and another chance to be present, free, open, aware and as loving as we are willing to be.
The Rigpa approach to shamata is nominally 25% attention on the breath, the rest is spacious awareness, with eyes open - a good basis for mindfulness, IMO.
I had a really good med-in-acttion day today,
I was able to be present during most of the following -
20 minute swim
20 minutes in a steam room
3 hours in my car
2 hours listening to crass 'hold - music' whilst trying to get a new phone sorted out - what else can you do…
Had a couple of realisations as well. Maybe not earth-shattering, but one was the fact that we are beings who desire to be happy and it really is the way we try to achieve happiness that is the cause of our suffering.
I also saw very clearly why you practice to be present, we are beings who reside in the present moment only - not the future or the past but right here and now. And that is where we can act for good or bad of our selves or others. You can't go back and open the door for the lady you saw struggling with her shopping bags in the supermarket when that happened yesterday. You can think about the various ways you are going to deal with your boss or someone who has been pretty shitty to you on a Friday, and has caused you nothing but grief thinking about it all weekend, but when they come up and apologise to you on the Monday morning and you are disarmed by their goodness - what a waste of energy and emotion that went into riding those thoughts, that could have been used for some other good.
Also listened to a dharma talk (yes fell back into bad habits!) about meditation in action. The speaker said she would not try to meditate whilst driving, that made me think about it as a possible practice.
The number of people I see on mobile phones or looking at theme selves in the mirror, or eating a Big MAC/slirrrrpping their Sprite (before tossing the rubbish out the window) - I think she missed the point, what an excellent practice to be present whilst driving, Aware of the road ahead of you, your speed and the speed limit, the motor cyclist overtaking you on the inside lane just as you are about to turn into it, the car behind you tail-gaiting in an effort to make you speed up, the little kid who runs out from behind a parked car…. the braking, the kids look of horror as you come to a halt inches from his little face, the mother running out shrieking at the kid 'not to do that - they could have been killed. Yep I think meditating whilst driving is going to be a good practice for me.
Next time you see someone ahead of you driving within the speed limit, slowing down slowly as they approach the lights, starting to indicate they are turning left and you can't even see the left turning because it's so far up the road - but giving you time to anticipate when you can put your pedal to the floor, that might be me ;-)
And becoming - hadn't given that much attention before, but clear as day;light it came to me - what am I really trying to 'become'? what needs to be changed… … …
As I said I had a good day today how was yours?
Somebody I once knew drove into the back of a parked car while listening to a talk on mindfulness in the car...strange but true.
"Zen work practice".
Please you cant drink out of a toilet - even a Zen monks pee is just pee no matter how clean the toilet looks looks! If you put shit in a kiln and then polished it (and you can) -it would look nice and shiny but its still shit...
I am sure most of us will eat food either talking with other people, watching something on their computer or TV, reading or whatever. Try this, switch everything off and sit down to eat and focus on the entire process of collecting the food onto your knife and fork, bringing it to your mouth, chewing the food and swallowing it. This may seem silly to some but it is a form of meditation or mindfulness. I think it is also probably a little healthier for your digestive track to be more aware of what you are doing when you are eating.
In one of my Buddhist books the Ajahn spoke of how you can find true mindfulness in almost any activity which requires concentration, washing the dishes, firing a gun, painting a picture, they all require concentration, but if you can find that sharp edged mindful type of concentration you will be able to perform the task with clarity and more skill.
Right I am off to eat lunch now!
What will be served up today?
Enjoy Lunch!
Liked the OCD btw - I know you have it too - just went to look at your profile and posting habits over the last year ;-)
mettha
singing!
also, yes breathing can definitely be better than sex. practice
it is a sensation that can relax and reinvigorate your whole being, not just pieces parts of your body.
brb i have some bridges to burn
:bawl: It's true, I can not stop being a 'pompous bombastic asshole' and now back to the mindful flirting . . .
Does that make me bombastic? I better look it up.
I'm pretty sure I'm pompous too.