Everyday Mindfulness

Mindfulness can and should (ideally) be practiced moment to moment. To assume there is a time and place for it only limits our practice. In truth, mindfulness is an unlimited resource that can never be depleted, available to us where-ever we go. I also practice mindful eating and mindful work and fi...

West Coast USA. Currently in warm and sunny southern California.

Accepting the negative is neither a form of surrender nor resistance. We neither give in to what is unpleasant nor push it away. Mindfulness is an all-inclusive faculty to be cultivated, but that does not have to mean that we have to get overwhelmed by what enters its field. Telling oneself to stop ...

I too observe Rohatsu , the December 8th commemoration of the Buddha's enlightenment. Sitting sesshin for greater lengths of time is extremely beneficial for strengthening mindfulness by "stretching" it out, as one might do with a tight muscle. Even as the muscles in the body become sore f...

By the way, weeding the gravel sounds like a much more pleasant form of samu than shoveling snow outside the meditation center in -20°F (-28°C) weather. :o Then again, sensations of numbness in the finger tips and frozen nostrils both evoke a greater sense of bodily mindfulness, even if unpleasant. ...

Work practice, or samu , also functions integrally in bridging the space between my practice and everyday life, making the gap incredibly narrow. Bringing mindfulness to every activity, regardless of how mundane, is a skill to be cultivated. Once this pervasive mindfulness has reached fruition, a se...

Loving-kindness is a foundational part of the mindfulness I practice. Its inclusion in the MBSR program speaks volumes for its efficacy as a stress-relieving practice. As alluded to by others in this thread, however, it can be a struggle for some people to cultivate loving-kindness for themselves gi...

In my experience, mindfulness definitely assists with changing how I am relating to pain in day to day life. I've found that with chronic neck and back pain, being mindful of the bare sensation without identifying with it has profoundly transformed my experience of the pain itself. As mentioned abov...

Very small, seemingly mundane cues in your immediate surroundings can help reinforce mindfulness throughout the day. For instance, I'm reminded to be mindful by the sight of fallen leaves, by passing through doorways, and by the sound of bells or birds chirping. Training oneself to notice and pay at...

At the macroscopic level, a dramatic decrease in anxiety and an overall enhanced sense of ease.

At the microscopic level, I have grown to love the sound of raisins.