Notes on Practice
"Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred." ― Thich Nhat Hanh
When is the last time you ate an apple and only ate the apple? No entertainment. No distractions. No conversation. Simply sat with the apple, chewing slowly, absorbed by the experience?
Meditation is quite ordinary. We sit, we pay attention, we open our awareness to the present moment.
Everyone arrives to meditation for a specific reason: to ease anxiety, relieve stress, find peace, sharpen focus, connect with God. The paradox of the path is that you have to drop the striving to arrive.
Practice doesn’t begin and end on the cushion. It moves through every interaction, every task, every responsibility. The dishes, the laundry, the line at the post office — every experience is an opportunity for presence. Life isn’t getting in the way of practice. Life is the practice.
“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
It doesn’t matter how many times the mind wanders. Each time we become aware, we return. Every return is a moment of liberation.
Water takes the shape of the vessel it’s in; practice can change form with the seasons of life. As a father to a young child, I can’t sit in silence for 45 minutes every day.
Over time you learn when it’s appropriate to push through, and when it’s time to let go. Practice doesn’t require perfect conditions. It requires willingness to be present and honest with ourselves and all thats coming through the senses.
There is no one-size-fits-all. No panacea. No perfect shape.
There is a north star: an orientation toward the present moment and welcoming your current experience just as it is. Not clinging to the pleasurable, not pushing away the challenging.
Hold your intention as you’d hold a live butterfly in a closed palm. Too loose and the butterfly flies away; too tight and the butterfly is crushed to darkness.
Start where you are.