Simply Face Whatever Is Here

 

 

 

When we sit in meditation, we are practicing being with this body and mind as they have come to be from moment to moment. Learning how to be with this body and mind as they have come to be is the starting point and foundation for living with the world as it has come to be. When we sit in meditation, sometimes our mind is running a mile a minute. Sometimes we have physical pain. Sometimes we are drowsy. This is simply how body and mind have come to be in that moment. Let go of all thoughts of how you wish things were, of wishing the mind was alert and calm and the body was without pain, wishing you could replicate that wonderful sitting experience you had last week. These wishes are meaningless obstacles to practice and happiness. We can try to simply face whatever is here whole-heartedly, bringing mindful awareness to it – not minding that it is here – not begrudging it. This itself is the opposite of suffering. If we can do this – if we can bring whole-hearted awareness to our experience moment after moment, we open the way for insight to arise and for our reactivity and suffering to fall away.   ~ Michael Bresnan -

 

 

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