From my experience, I have found that it is necessary to have a foundation of mindfulness before one is really able to embody: 1) the lessons that life offers, and/or 2) the knowledge that may be gleaned from teachers, books, workshops and other relevant means of imparting spiritual wisdom. With mindfulness, we are better able discern through our intuition and respond with clarity and integrity. With mindfulness, we do not continually look for the latest “spiritual fad”, guru, or book that will give us “the answer” to all our problems but understand that our answer lies within us. It is not through an EXTERNAL “quick fix”. This is not to say that we must struggle on our own without support, but we must begin to take responsibility for our individual life journey. This begins with the practice of mindfulness.
Without mindfulness, we live life on automatic pilot with automatic reactions. We tend to dwell in the past or gaze longingly at the future. We think that we will be happy if only we can get the new job, new relationship, new car, new clothes … or if only we could heal the past or go back to the “good ole days”. As we continue in this vein of thinking we find the present is lost and life has gone by unlived and unfulfilled. It is only in the present that life is truly alive and vivid, full of real time colour, taste, sound, thought, and sensation. It is where we are open to wisdom and our true nature, where we can “see” what already abounds in us and connect to that inner knowing. We begin to respond to life instead of automatically reacting in our generally habitual negative patterns.
Mindfulness can be present in our lives through the DAILY practice of meditation or other spiritual practices. Mindfulness entails practicing “being with what is” no matter the situation and no matter what the ensuing thoughts, feelings and sensations are around it. It is our human nature to push away that which is unpleasant and to hold on to what is pleasant. With mindfulness, we learn to soften into what is and begin to “let go” as opposed to ruminating. Rumination perpetuates emotional and mental suffering. Mindfulness helps us realize that we are not our thoughts, not our feelings and not our sensations. These are only mental constructs in which our mind can entrap us.
As we practice mindfulness and live more and more in the present, we are then better able to see clearly, embody the lessons and discern new learning that is continually before us. It is for these reasons that I facilitate mindfulness training as a foundation in all retreats and workshops.
Medicine Buddha Toronto 