Mindfulness meditation isn’t directed to creating and holding some special state; it’s learning to steady our attention on the present moment, finding a wise and compassionate relationship to this organic change of body and heart and mind that we are. We can then embody this loving awareness in every season.
For the mind to become steady, settled in the present moment in the midst of so much change, it is necessary to develop a degree of stability; that is called concentration.
Concentration is the art of calming and steadying our attention, like a candle flame in a windless place. As we train ourselves to become mindful of breath and body, we can see more clearly, and be more deeply present. We experience a unity of our body, spirit, and mind. To live this way is wonderful.
This is a natural process. Through our paying attention, again and again, a quality of calm interest begins to grow and the mind settles lightly into the moment.
~Jack Kornfield
your practice time is somewhere in between the daily drive and the mystery…..
inquiry for today~ how fearless? how patient? how revealing?
She could not make
sense of the things
that were meant for her, but she was
drawn to it all. And
when she was alone,
she felt like the moon-
terrified of the sky,
but completely in love
with the way it held
the stars.
~R.M. Drake
