Attention

Act Mindfully

It Is Arduous, It Is Difficult, But It Is Not Impossible.

“Act mindfully. It is a long, arduous journey, and it is difficult to be aware even for a single moment; the mind is constantly flickering. But it is not impossible. It is arduous, it is difficult, but it is not impossible. It is possible – for everyone it is possible.”

The first thing to realize when embarking on a path of mindfulness is that it’ll be a long and arduous journey.

Our normal lives are the complete opposite of what we’re trying to do here. For our entire lifetimes, we have been asleep. We have lived mechanical, habitual, unconscious lives. Naturally, it will be difficult to change our ways. If you have lived a certain way for 20, 30, 40, 50, 60+ years, then changing will be a challenge.

And so, we will miss many times. What matters is not that we miss. What matters is how we react when we miss…

You Will Miss Many Times

Move in life remaining continuously watchful. Again and again you will forget. Don’t become miserable because of that; it is natural. For millions of lives you have never tried watchfulness, so it is simple, natural, that you go on forgetting again and again. But the moment you remember, again watch.

Remember one thing: when you remember that you have forgotten watching, don’t become sorry, don’t repent; otherwise, again you are wasting time. Don’t feel miserable: ‘I missed again.’ Don’t start feeling ‘I am a sinner.’ Don’t start condemning yourself, because this is a sheer waste of time. Never repent for the past! Live in the moment. If you had forgotten, so what? It was natural – it has become a habit, and habits die hard. And these are not habits imbibed in one life; these are habits imbibed in millions of lives. So if you can remain watchful even for a few moments, feel thankful. Even those few moments are more than can be expected.

So remember one thing: whenever you realize that you have gone to the past or into the future, don’t create a problem out of it. Simply come to the present, not creating any problem. It’s okay! Simply bring back your awareness. You will miss millions of times; it is not going to happen right now, immediately. It can happen, but it cannot because of you. It is such a long, long, fixed mode of behavior that you cannot change it right now. But no worry, existence is not in a hurry. Eternity can wait eternally. Don’t create a tension about it.

Let’s say you decide to bring more mindfulness to your life. What will inevitably happen is that you forget being mindful over and over again. You are mindful for a moment, but then you get distracted. And then it may take you a few minutes, hours, or even days until you realize, “Oh, I haven’t been mindful. I forgot!”

This is natural and it’s bound to happen a lot. In those moments, our natural response is to feel guilty and beat ourselves up, “Why am I so bad at this? I can’t even stay mindful for a few minutes! I’m terrible! I’m the worst!”

This isn’t helpful. In fact, it’s just more unconsciousness, more sleepwalking.

Instead of condemning yourself or creating guilt, simply accept it and come back to the present moment. Don’t waste time worrying about the fact that you’ve missed. Just come back. Simply. Innocently.