March mindfulness...

[jungblood]

Hello all,

I'm starting this thread to see if anyone would like to join me in sharing their experiences with practicing mindfulness over the month ahead. I've come to see that mindfulness in my day-to-day life is just as important (arguably more so) than my daily meditation practise, so I'm going to work on this more during March. In my case, I'll be focussing on mindful eating and mindfulness in my spending habits…of course, I could go for 24-hour mindfulness, but experience tells me it may be best to focus on the more overt and punctual manifestations of my desire/craving for the moment… I'll be updating this thread over the days and weeks ahead… if anyone else feels like there's an area in their life where they'd like to work more on being mindful, please join me!

All the best,
Lucas

[Ayu]

I'm a very poor reader. But just now i got an inner urge to learn more about Abidharma.
There is only one book in German online : http://www.abhidhamma.de/Abhidhamma_Janaka_gesamt.pdf
It is Theravada-style and i think it's very good for me to widen my horizon.
To read it gives my mind peace right now, so mindfullness becomes more possible.

So to keep mindfullness, i ask me from time to time: "What is most important?" Then a glimpse of emptiness and peace reaches my heart. I try to remember this as often as i can.

[Roland]

Great idea!

I heard at the end of a talk by Thich Nhat Hanh earlier this week, which he gave in Vietnam, a woman asked if we are mindful in everything we do, do we need to meditate? Thich Nhat Hanh told her that those who have a high level of mindfulness, constant mindfulness in everything they do, don't need to sit in formal meditation. Being mindful in everything you do is actually constantly meditating during everything you do.

So I agree with you, mindfulness in daily life and formal sitting practice are equally as important. I think with much formal sitting practice, the effects of meditation can spill over into daily activities, making it easier to be mindful in daily activities, permeating every part of one's experience.

[lobster]

constant mindfulness in everything they do, don't need to sit in formal meditation

True, I awoke in a mindful state but still meditated . . .
I sat on the face of Jesus. Which just means I used an Argos catalogue and a copy of 'Jesus The Man', for my morning meditation 'cushion'.

I would love to join you.

[Roland]

It's hard not to be mindful on the moon. There aren't many distractions. These robot eyes can only see so far into the surrounding universe. I'm missing a body as well. Hmm, one less thing to be mindful of. This might hurt practice.

[PadmaVonSamba]

This may sound a bit sappy,
I've decided to make a conscious effort to generate
a feeling of love and compassion toward people I see.
This is a practice common to many traditions.
This may not exactly be "mindfulness", more intentional.
.
.
.

[Fu Ri Shin]

This may sound a bit sappy,
I've decided to make a conscious effort to generate
a feeling of love and compassion toward people I see.
This is a practice common to many traditions.
This may not exactly be "mindfulness", more intentional.
.
.
.

Smrti/sati, if one looks into the various available definitions, definitely seems to be an intentional practice. I'd call that mindfulness, and a laudable strain of it.

[jungblood]

This may sound a bit sappy,
I've decided to make a conscious effort to generate
a feeling of love and compassion toward people I see.
This is a practice common to many traditions.
This may not exactly be "mindfulness", more intentional.
.
.
.

Thanks everyone for your responses... I really liked what you said Padmavonsamba... it doesn't seem sappy to me at all.. I'm no expert on midnfulness or Buddhist scripture for that matter, but experience tells me that metta and mindfulness are very closely enmeshed - indeed they can be hard to separate... the feeling of compassions is 'connecting' for me, in that it brings my focus into the moment and into the people around me... for a time last year I paraticed saying 'we are all one, I wish you love and joy' in my mind as I saw each people in the street or in work meetings etc over the course of the day... it was very powerful in terms of improving my centredness, mindfulness and general wellbeing... come to think of it, I'm not sure why I stopped! there's my monkeymind getting the better of me...

[OneofMany]

What a fun idea! I know I'm late to the party, but I'd love to join.
It's been a goal for me to be mindful 24/7. First emotions, watching them arise, fall, etc. if it's something I want to work on, like stress or irritation, I'll dig in and try to find out why. Then thoughts, try not to daydream, etc. I'm new to this though so I apologize if I'm getting this wrong.

[Ayu]

Now March is gone. What about April?

I found a state of peace within my heart. I try to remember it as often as i can.

[Karma K Sonam]

How about April Awareness?

[lobster]

How about awareness without the March of time?