Mindfulness- The energy that brings you back to the Present Moment

In the beginning Habit Energy is strong. Ask yourself "What am I doing?". If you are washing the dishes and thinking about something else you are not being present. Alternatively if you are simply present and washing each dish mindfully and fully present in the moment you will find peace and happiness. Mindfulness grows with concentration practice (meditation) and sometimes it may take several years to find a quiet mind. Change does not happen quickly. When we are thinking mindfully we stay in touch with the Present Moment. Suffering and anxiety rarely exist in the present moment. Anxiety about the future and regrets about the past cause a great deal of suffering. Living in the Present Moment when you wash the dishes you just wash the dishes and will find joy and peace in that space. Mindful practice will allow you to see clearly your body, your feelings, your mind and the objects of your mind.

When we see a beautiful rainbow or when we are deep in the mountains and the snow makes it perfectly silent it is easier to find and be in the present moment. We find it in nature or in a beautiful view. It is our work to bring that serenity into our daily lives with mindfulness. 

Boundaries in our lives are our own creations. Like the lines on a map they are entirely fiction, the belief that people exist outside of the relationships with one another or that we exist somehow independent of the environment we live in are fiction as well. As my teacher said "our bodies are 70% ocean".  We all exist as 'inter-being' in the relationship between us and in relationship to those that have come before. We are made up of the star dust, and the sunshine of the universe literally. These are the things we are composed of both physically and mentally. Practicing mindful breathing we realize that breathing is mind, mind is body and the objects outside of us are in reality the relationship between our being and the world that we think, or as it appears to be outside of ourselves. It is not that when we cut the forest down and replace it with houses that these things are not real but that our very being is diminished when we do this is something that is hidden from us by the ego and narrow self interest that it serves. Sometimes when  we injure nature we injure ourselves.