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Kindle Notes & Highlights
Mindfulness is the path to the deathless—the underlying joy and love that is consciousness without delusion. It is through the surrender of the illusory self that enlightenment is realized.
Instead of being a reactionary slave to the inevitable pain, frustration, stress, and sorrow in your life, which the Buddha called dukkha, you can free your mind such that you have a sense of well-being even when dukkha is present, and you create the possibility of finding complete freedom. Why not dance with the constant vicissitudes of life in a manner that is joyful and liberated, rather than feeling like a victim or being flooded with fear and stress?
Mindfulness enables you to go beneath the surface level of moment-to-moment life experience, which is clouded with emotions, to clearly see the truth of what is happening.
mindfulness allows you not to identify with the impulses of your strong emotions or act from them.
Mindfulness meditation training begins with practicing techniques for concentrating your attention on an object, which enables you to notice how your mind is reacting to what it is experiencing.
You typically stay with the experience of the breath as it touches the body in a single spot, such as the tip of the nose as it moves in and out, or the rise and fall of the chest, or the in-and-out movement of the belly, or the feeling of the breath in the whole body. There are many ways to follow the breath, including counting, noticing its speed, and making mental notes of what is happening, using labels such as “in” and “out” or “rising” and “falling.” You can also learn to stay with the breath by coupling a word with each breath. Some
When your mind starts wandering, the breath becomes your anchor to which you return in order to stabilize and focus your attention.
By repeatedly returning to the breath, you are learning to just start over. Starting over is a key step in meditation. It expresses your intention to be present, and the power of your intention is what determines your ability to be mindful in daily life.
all emotions are accompanied by body sensations.
