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 practice
Bunks
Australia Veteran
in Mindfulness
Had a quiet day at home yesterday so I challenged myself to sit and meditate for 5 minutes every thirty minutes.
It went quite well. Became more difficult as the day went on, reaching the point that I could barely focus by about 8pm.
It did make me think more about what I was doing between sessions to ensure I was able to settle quickly each time I sat.
I’ll try it again today but just do five minutes each hour as I have to work.
What do others do to maintain mindfulness throughout the day?
4
Comments
… return to the breath …
Slowly let go of everything, and just sit.
For me, with regular meditation "practice"...
Then on autopilot check in every now and again throughout the day, no set times no set places... random inspections so to speak...
It would seem meditation is like an exercise/work-out for the mind and the more the workout, the stronger the mindfulness muscle becomes...Where gradually "awareness develops' ie, becoming aware of what is going on with the senses especially the thinking process...and can then gently tweak/change thought patterns, especially unwholesome ones...
This is not to say that those unwholesome thought patterns don't occur, they occur but for the most part are nipped in the bud before they have a chance to take root/solidify into actions ie, verbally or physically expressed...
However, at times the odd one or two might slip though...but they don't tend to last long...due to the ongoing random inspections....
Even "I" don't know when these random inspections will occur...
One thing I believe is that losing mindfulness of a particular scene, activity, or idea is all a part of the mind how it both defuses and focuses. The mind should not stay concentrated on one particular sensation to extreme extensively. And part of mindfulness meditation is that returning to mindfulness of objects from being 'forgetting' will happen and that we don't need to get judgmental since it's all part of the mind. The vast field that one diffuses outward into stands for the emptiness of experience not needing to be a certain thing like a vast sky. The focusing that happens stands for the skillful means and compassion and this could include blissful feelings within the vast sky. So mindfulness as a skillful means might be noticing activity: the feet in walking or running, the hands in typing or washing dishes, the senses even in memories.
This week I have practiced stopping for a 5 minute meditation at the top of each hour regardless of what I am doing.
I’ve practiced sitting meditation, driving meditation, walking meditation and standing meditation.
Missed two or three and often they have happened at a bit after or before the top of the hour but I’ve tried to be consistent.
Can’t really comment on the meditations themselves but the one thing I can say is that everything is truly impermanent (annica). Everything just rising and falling, rising and falling. What’s playing out this hour is unlikely to be the thing playing out the next hour. Try to hold things a little less tightly. Peace to you all 🙏🏻❤️💎
Have you noticed that every time you have lost mindfulness, you were actually lost in thoughts or thinking? When thoughts themselves become objects of awareness, mindfulness is regained.
The more you can get out of your thoughts, the more you are practicing mindfulness.
"I see you Mara aka the Devil"
This reminds me of a next step, of returning to the breath whenever you notice you have lost it, and staying with the breath throughout the day. I did it on a day where I was doing just chores around the house, and like you in a wide range of circumstances.
@Bunks @Jeroen
Life is practice! [Lobster faints] I am sure I read that somewhere … eh … everywhere. We may have a plan … 🤭👋😉😶
I like this idea and am copying it
What did you do if you were, say, in the shop or having guests?
Bravo 👏
Yes, a difficult one. You can just try your best to be mindful for around a 5 minute period (knowing it will be difficult to time it exactly).
This week I’ve found a one hour video with a one minute timer. Try to come back to the breath each time it pings
'Trying' to be mindful involves thinking about being mindful and this is where the problems occur, the trap of becoming pre-occupied with the thoughts about (how) to do/be mindful....
One could always try the reverse way of entering into in, by trying 'not' to be mindful....
"You can not catch hold of it, nor can you get rid of it.
In not being able to get it, you get it
When you speak it is silent
When you are silent it speaks"
~Zen poem~
A meditation that one applies to this present fleeting moment is a reality unmatched by any planned meditation of another time.
Each nanosecond of awareness of any moment offers a living meet & greet with a Buddha.
Outside of such moments, the offerings of Buddha statues will have to suffice.
Three of the greatest values of scheduling a regular meditation and sticking to it is it's
(1) A pilgrimage that says your practice at that time supersedes everything else.
(2) A Commitment to meditate regardless of wanting or not wanting to do so.
(3) Demonstration that nothing conditioned need limit the possibility of practicing anytime.