Mindfulness

Non-striving

Letting go of striving, we become more present to what is actually happening in the present moment. But not striving does not mean not making an effort, or not applying ourselves to our practice, or in our life. Not at all. It means showing up, doing the work, all the while letting go of the outcome.

Non-judging

We all carry around critical voices in our heads, voices that continually pass judgment on ourselves and others. We tend to let our beliefs about what we “know” prevent us from seeing things as they really are. Non judgment doesn’t mean that we don’t have opinions about things. It simply means we become aware of how our pre-conceived notions and stories affect how we react and keep coming back to seeing things as they actually are.

Beginner’s Mind

We can apply beginner’s mind to our practice, to our relationships with others, to our lives, letting go of already having the answers. We may certainly be an expert in some things. But we can approach even those things with an attitude of gentle humility, admitting that maybe, just maybe, we don’t know everything there is to know about the subject. An open, “beginner’s “ mind allows us to be receptive to new possibilities and prevents us from getting stuck in the rut of our own expertise, which often thinks it knows more than it does.

Trusting Ourselves (Trust as Self Reliance)

In meditation, we are practicing taking responsibility for being ourselves and learning to listen to and trust our own being and intuition. The more we cultivate this trust in our own being, the easier it becomes to trust other people more and see their basic goodness.

Acceptance

Acceptance means seeing things as they actually are in the present. Acceptance does not mean that you have to like everything or that you have to take a passive attitude toward everything and abandon your principles and values. It does not mean that you should tolerate injustice or avoid getting involved in changing the world around you because it is the way it is and therefore hopeless. Acceptance simply means that you have come around to a willingness to see things as they are.

Letting Be (Letting Go)

In our meditation practice we intentionally put aside the tendency to elevate some aspects of our experience and to reject others. Instead we just let our experience be what is and practice observing it from moment to moment.

Patience

When we stop comparing ourselves to others, or to some pre-conceived idea of how we are supposed to be, we begin to see that there is no hurry to get anywhere or become anything different from what we are. Patience means allowing things to unfold at their own speed, rather than trying to control our experience.