By teaching “Do not judge”, the great teachers are saying that you cannot start seeing or understanding anything if you start with “no.” You have to start with a “yes” of basic acceptance, which means not too quickly labeling, analyzing, or categorizing things as in or out, good or bad, up or down. You have to leave the field open, a field in which God and grace can move.
Ego leads with “no” whereas soul leads with “yes.” The ego seems to strengthen itself by constriction, by being against things; and it feels loss or fear when it opens up. “No” always comes easier than “yes,” and a deep, conscious “yes” is the work of freedom and grace. The soul lives by expansion instead of constriction. Spiritual teachers want you to live by positive action, an open field, and studied understanding, and not by resistance, knee-jerk reactions, or defensiveness, and so they always say something like “Do not judge,” as judging is merely a control mechanism.
Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics
No-one can cause you to feel inferior without your consent Are you affected by reduced self-confidence or inferiority intricate? I will talk about some self-help tips on how you can get over might acquire your assurance. You might have inferiority sophisticated mainly because he / she feels that you’ve a have to make an impression…
We have all tasted the “boundarylessness” of awareness on those occasions when we were able to suspend our own point of view momentarily and see from another person’s point of view and feel with him or her. We call this feeling empathy.
If we are too self-absorbed and caught up in our own experience in any moment, we will be unable to shift our perspective in this way and won’t even think to try. When we are self-preoccupied, there is virtually no awareness of whole domains of reality we may be living, immersed in every day but which nevertheless are continually impinging on and influencing our lives. Our emotions, and particularly the intensely afflictive emotions that “sweep us away,” such as anger, fear, and sadness, can all too easily blind us to the full picture of what is actually happening with others and within ourselves.
A Guided Meditation for Resting In Awareness
A Guided Meditation for Resting In Awareness
29:48
Through our practice of mindfulness, we have been cultivating an awareness that can become more and more stable and vivid, especially the more we practice with wise effort and intentionality. And this awareness can be either narrow or broad, depending on the circumstances it can recognize and embrace any and all sensations within the body, including the breath sensations. It can recognize and embrace seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching, as well as those activities of mind we call thinking and feeling, and it can rest in a non-conceptual direct knowing of any or all of these aspects of human experience, beyond thinking, without separation or identification.
Or if on occasion we fall into identification and separation into a subject—a me—and the objects I am observing, either inwardly or outwardly, then awareness is capable of recognizing that as well and re-establishing the knowing itself, beyond any separation, beyond any identification, beyond the personal pronouns, beyond I, me, or mine, beyond thinking altogether. So the final expansion, if you will, within this framework is to abandon the framework. In the sense that we no longer choose a focus for awareness, but allow the field of awareness to be boundless. Since awareness actually is, and always has been boundless.
We no longer choose a focus for awareness, but allow the field of awareness to be boundless. Since awareness actually is, and always has been boundless.
But as we know from our own efforts, in minds that have not encountered training and mindfulness, awareness does tend to contract and nucleate around particular arisings, especially events that have emotional charge for us. And then it tends to fixate and either be very narrow, or very self interested and self centered. Or on the other hand, to fall into utter rebellion. In other words, no awareness at all, merely obsession or dullness.
So in this moment, resting in awareness, perhaps at first allowing the field of awareness to feature the soundscape, which is as we have experienced over and over again, always here, presenting itself to our ears comprising everything that presents itself in the form of sound and the spaces between sounds. Everything, without exception. So resting in hearing, being the hearing, without necessarily creating any distance between a you and what is being heard. But simply hearing. Being the hearing. Being the hearing right now, in this moment.
And of course if there are thoughts that make their way in, letting them be known because awareness can include the knowing of thought. And expanding the field of awareness whenever you care to, to include the air caressing the skin, the air that is the breath, the air that carries sound, and resting in the knowing of the air and the breath again through the sensations in the body, since it is only through the senses, including mind, that we can know anything. And we can naturally allow a field of awareness to include of course, not just the sensations associated with breathing or the touch of the air on the skin, but any sensations and all sensations in the body right here as we sit.
And so in this moment, with the field of awareness expanded this far, we have sounds and the spaces between sounds, we have the breath and we have the air, and we have sensations in the body. That’s a lot, and it is all happening in this one moment. And it’s not separate, although we can isolate any feature of it. So just allowing it all to be present without separation in this moment, and to rest in awareness of the experiencing of it, of it all. Sitting, breathing, feeling, hearing, knowing and why exclude thinking, since it’s going on anyway. So allowing the field of awareness to expand even further to include thought, the thought stream, the bubbles of thought. And any emotional currents, eddies or whirlpools that may arise in the mind or in the heart, accompanied or unaccompanied by images and thoughts, memories or fantasies. And just allowing ourselves to rest in this awareness, this bigger basket that holds it all.
And now in one last jump, let’s allow the field of awareness to expand infinitely to allow the mind, heart to be boundless, hugely spacious, as big as the sky or space itself, with no beginning and no end, no boundary, no circumference, no periphery. No center. And rather than focusing on anything in particular, just allowing the quality of our awareness to be choiceless. To rest in the non-conceptual knowing quality of mind itself. Not seeking out anything, not pursuing anything, not rejecting anything and not featuring anything, but like an electromagnetic field so to speak, that would instantly know any perturbation any movement whatsoever that would arise within it.
So the field of awareness, like a mirror but in many more dimensions knows, detects, feels sees and senses whatever moves, whatever arises, whatever it lingers, whatever dissolves. So resting in awareness itself, in the choiceless, boundless, vast, spacious quality of awareness itself. If sound predominates in some moment, then sound is known. If the thought follows on the sound, then the thought is known as thinking now. Conceptually it’s recognized, known, felt neither pushed away nor pursued, neither condemned nor extolled.
If in the next moment the sensation arises in your lower back or in your knee and predominates in the field of awareness for a moment, that is also felt, seen, known and neither pushed away nor pursued, condemned nor extolled. Awareness functions an open, empty, spacious mirror, empty and full, able to contain anything and needing nothing to complete itself. Undisturbed, imperturbable, never not here. Like the sun always shining even when clouds obscure it. And even if we become irritated or vexed, this boundless and accepting field of awareness embraces irritation and vexation, grief, joy. Anything and everything: pain, discomfort, agitation, boredom, depression, sadness.
Awareness functions as an open, spacious mirror, empty and full, able to contain anything and needing nothing to complete itself.
There is no mind-state and no body-state that can’t be held seen, felt, known, in this infinite, boundless spaciousness. This knowing quality of the heart, mind resting in its natural luminosity and radiance with nowhere to go, nothing to do, nothing to attain, no choices to make. And no one to make them sometimes.
This is known in the Chinese tradition as silent illumination, with the method of no method. Nothing missing, nothing extra, resting in this choiceless awareness that the Tibetans sometimes call non-meditation, when all the scaffolding falls away. They don’t call it meditation anymore, they call it non-meditation but it’s got a few adjectives that make it more precise. And demonstrate how challenging it is they refer to it as undistracted and fabricated non meditation just this moment, seen and known as it is by this boundless spaciousness. This all inclusive knowing that is truly what distinguishes us as human so is best you can. With effortless effort, resting in choiceless awareness.
If thoughts arise, they are met with mindfulness, seen and known in their arising like bubbles coming off the bottom of a pot. They just burst on their own. The Tibetans refer to this as self liberation the thoughts self liberate nice way to put it you don’t have to do anything just resting in awareness just attending with sounds sensations impulses perception’s thoughts emotions all coming and going in this fast benign kind compassionate, accepting and inclusive spaciousness, with no center, no periphery, no agenda, no preferences, no watcher, no words at all. Just this.
Of course if you get lost in the just this and that can happen very very easily. That may be featuring some object or other letting the field of awareness narrowed down reestablishing the stability of mind and then allowing it to expand out again to whatever degree you like either stepwise in the way that we’ve just done or jumping straight to choiceless awareness, because the awareness is never not here, it’s always available. And we’re beyond time, space, liking and disliking, meditating and not meditating. Just the wake of vast open field of heart-full awareness, resting here, nothing happening, nothing special. Simply life expressing itself and knowing it, and in the remaining few moments of this sitting if you care to coming back to the breath, letting go of the vast spaciousness for a moment and featuring the breath once again or the breath in the body, the body as a whole sitting here breathing, or anything else that you care to feature. Or if you care to simply continue dwelling in choiceless awareness, then of course. And in the spirit of this practice, it’s your choiceless choice.
Resting here until the sound of the bells signals the end of this period of formal practice, and keeping in mind that this pristine open spaciousness of heart and mind is available to you in any and every moment of your life, unfolding now first separate from you and inhabitable. As you cultivate ongoing awareness in your daily life through the practice of mindfulness. And as you commit yourself, if you care to, if it makes sense to, using the regular discipline of formal mindfulness practice, a commitment that is tantamount to giving yourself over and over again to the adventure of a lifetime, to the cultivation of wakefulness. For the sake of being free from the anguish, of unnecessary suffering from afflictive emotions. From ignoring what is most fundamental to life and for the sake of embracing with loving kindness and compassion and wisdom. All beings including, yourself who are living and breathing, and sometimes suffering in this mysterious and awe inspiring world we find ourselves in.
The above is adapted from Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Guided Mindfulness Meditation Series 3, available here. These guided meditations are designed to accompany Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book Meditation is Not What You Think and the other three volumes based on Coming to Our Senses.
This 9-minute guided walking meditation from Jon Kabat-Zinn explores embracing mindfulness with every footfall—varying the practice for speed and distance. Read More
This 20-minute guided meditation from Jon Kabat-Zinn explores embracing sensations as they arise in the body in order to ground ourselves in the here and now. Read More
A 20-minute meditation from Jon Kabat-Zinn to allow you to tap into your capacity to be in touch with your experience, and be awake and aware with no agenda other than to be awake and aware. Read More
First and foremost I would like to tell you that I am a tremendous fan. I have listened to all of your audio tapes repeatedly. They are so enjoyable, peaceful and so full of knowledge. However, I have a few questions. But I will start with one. In your book Seven Spiritual Laws of Success you state that one should chose the path of least resistance. I am currently doing pediatrics and entering child neurology. before transitioning from peds to child neurology, I informed my Peds Director about entering child neurology, she disapproved and then she made my life very difficult. My father also told me to just stick to peds and not do neurology. I listened to your tapes and thought about forgetting about child neuro. I was confused. But in the end, I kept saying that I should do it because it makes me happy regardless of the havoc it created around me. So what extent should I apply the rule of least resistance? What about minorities who fight for equality and are met
with resistance. Should they not fight for equality? I want to lead a spiritual and peaceful life but sometimes decisions I make upset people. What can you offer with regards to the philosophy of least resistance in my life?
Knowing yourself and feeling confident about yourself helps a lot in finding your passion at work. This begins with accurate understanding of your strengths and values – it’s what makes you feel good about yourself. The process starts by evaluating the factors that molded your personality – family, experiences, education, and trainings. Majority of your…
A few weeks ago, local Utah politicians (Rep. Chris Stewart and Sen. Orrin Hatch) helped get a suicide prevention bill onto President Trump’s desk that he signed into law. It tasks the government with creating a three-digit number that works as a shortcut to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) for suicide and mental health crises, much like 911 for medical emergencies. It also authorizes an investigation into the effectiveness of both the lifeline and the Veteran Crisis Line.
If you would like to see changes to either of these services, now is a very good time to contact your congress critters and give them your feedback.
Without comment, President Donald Trump signed into law on Tuesday legislation sponsored by Rep. Chris Stewart and Sen. Orrin Hatch, both Republicans, to require the Federal Communications Commission to study the feasibility of such a hotline.
It is also ordered to recommend which three-digit number would be best for the hotline, examine the effectiveness of the current National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Veterans Crisis Line, and recommend ways to improve the current system.
Stewart and Hatch hailed the new law and said it is long overdue.
“We now have the opportunity to make the National Suicide Prevention Hotline more accessible and easier to remember,” Stewart said. “By creating a hotline dialing code that is short and easy to remember, we are taking an important step towards potentially averting tragedy. This new law truly has the ability to save lives.”
Same message, different traditions, same time period
If people seek peace in outward things, whether in places or in methods or in people or in deeds … however great or of whatever kind all this may be, this is all in vain and brings them no peace. Those who seek thus seek wrongly; the further they go the less they find what they are seeking. They are like one who has taken a wrong turning: the further he goes, the more he goes astray. But what should he do? In truth, if one gave up a kingdom or the whole world and did not give up self, he or she would have given up nothing. But if one gives up oneself, then whatever one keeps, wealth, honour or whatever it may be, still they have given up everything.
Meister Eckhart, German theologian, philosopher and mystic, 1260 – 1328
To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things
Dogen, Buddhist monk and philosopher, founder of the Soto school of Zen, 1200 – 1253,
Okay so let’s just start with the elephant in the room. I made a salad for you this week instead of something covered in chocolate or layered with ice cream. I’m sure you are wondering what the H.E. double hockey sticks is going on here? I assure you that I would be wondering the same exact thing if I were you. All I can say is, “What?! I eat salads too ya know!” For me to actually make, photograph, and post a salad recipe on the blog though, you know it has to be something REALLY special. It can’t just be any salad. How boring. But this salad is something else entirely.
This recipe is based off a salad that I had for the first time a few weeks ago. It was like 800 degrees in San Diego, and I was out to lunch with some co-workers. I was looking at the salads on the menu, because it was way too hot to eat anything else, and the word watermelon jumped off the menu at me. I thought, “What?! You can’t put watermelon on a salad. I have to try this.” So I ordered it, and added some grilled chicken to it of course, because lean protein bro. It was love at first bite. Then I thought, this would be really easy to make at home, so I made it for dinner the next day. Then when Brad freaked out and was like, “this is the best salad ever”, I knew I needed to post it on the blog. Trust me, I did go back and forth for a bit wondering if anyone even wanted, slash, needed another salad recipe. This salad is just so good though, I decided you just had to have it. So boom. I photographed it and wrote it up.
So what’s new with you besides amazing watermelon salads? I’m taking a trip to the Caribbean in 3 weeks! Eek! I’m so excited. You know what I’m not excited about? My muffin top. I will be scantily clad for like 10 days straight, which means I need to get my ish together. I have 3 weeks to do this. Of course when I booked the trip, I had several months to do this, but that wouldn’t have been fair to all the dessert and good food that I ate up until this point, am I right? I’ve also given up my greatest love to loose this muffin top too…booze. I’m 3 weeks stone cold Steve Austin (sober). Now that I’m in the 3rd week of no booze, I feel fine. It’s just like with sugar, once you detox the cravings are gone and I’m not a total mess in social situations that involve it. My sleep is spectacular and I feel great. I just still have this stupid muffin top. Mainly because I just really like to eat. I started counting macros to help keep myself in check. My carbs are always the first to go. It’s like I blink and they’re gone.
3 ounces (85g) sliced avocado or 1/2 of a large avocado
2 tablespoons ricotta salata
pinch of sea salt
Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette
1 medium shallot, minced
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Watermelon Arugula Salad
Evenly divide the arugula between two salad bowls. Top each bowl of arugula with ½ cup diced watermelon, 3 ounces (85g) of sliced grilled chicken, and sliced avocado. Then sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the ricotta salata and sea salt across the top of each salad as a garnish. Toss with the Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette or serve the dressing on the side.
Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette
Add the minced shallot, sherry vinegar, lemon juice, water, and Dijon mustard to a small mixing bowl. Stir together then let the ingredients macerate for at least 15 minutes.
Gradually stir in the olive oil using a fork or small whisk, until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Store leftover dressing in the refrigerator. The olive oil will solidify when cold. Before using, let sit at room temperature or set the bowl in hot water until it liquefies again.
Notes
If you like your dressings a little on the sweeter side you could definitely add a touch of honey to taste.
Clean Eating with a Dirty Mind http://cleaneatingwithadirtymind.com/
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The Netflix drama ‘Brain on Fire is the story of a young woman in the U.S. who suddenly develops severe psychiatric symptoms. Some clever detective work reveals that she has a rare and mysterious condition causing brain inflammation. We hear from an Australian teenager who’s been through the same ordeal—but once treated has survived and thrived.
