Mindfulness, not mystique …
This is one of my favorite statues of the Buddha; cracked and weathered, yet stable and resilient. We can be the same way.
“Meditation” and “enlightenment” stir thoughts of mysticism, gurus on mountaintops, and attractive people sitting cross-legged on empty, sun-drenched beaches. (Where ARE these beautiful-yet-unattended places, anyway?) Maybe we picture someone serenely detached, unfazed by life and its petty troubles.
Mindfulness isn’t that.
Mindfulness involves developing our skills of awareness, memory, attention, and concentration. Cultivating these powerful mental qualities allows our insight to arise. This clear seeing sets the conditions for more skillful living with ourselves and others. That’s meditation, whether you’re on a mountaintop, at work, or on a roller coaster.
It’s not easy, but it IS that simple.
We live real lives, we face obstacles, and our beaches have other people on them. Lotus flowers, for all their splendor, arise from the mud. Sometimes growth is messy, and that’s ok. You won’t see pictures of perfection on this site. No breathtaking sunsets, no dreamy forests, and definitely no airbrushed young women laughing at their salads.