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Kindle Notes & Highlights
There’s a radio playing in our head, Radio Station NST: Non-Stop Thinking. Our mind is filled with noise, and that’s why we can’t hear the call of life, the call of love.
It’s easy to get caught in the prison of the past.
the future becomes a kind of prison, too.
Mindfulness is often described as a bell that reminds us to stop and silently listen.
When we hear the bell, we stop. We follow our in-breath and our out-breath, making space for silence. We say to ourselves, “Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in.” Breathing in and out mindfully, paying attention only to the breath, we can quiet all the noise within us—the chattering about the past, the future, and the longing for something more.
We can respond to the call of the beauty around us: “I am here. I am free. I hear you.”
So we do these things in joyful noble silence. In this way, we are free to hear the deepest call of our hearts.
Right after the first sound of the bell of mindfulness, the silence felt quite different. It was real silence, because everyone had stopped thinking.
Silence like this can be called thundering silence, because it’s eloquent and powerful.
In this silence, I could hear the wind and the birds so much more vividly. Before that, I’d heard the birds and the wind, but not in the same way, because I didn’t have the deepest kind of silence.
Yo lo he experimentado mychas veces en alta montaña con mis panas. Y con el Willy y el parche endurero!!!
With that kind of silence you are more capable of healing yourself, mentally and physically.
Being silent in this way when you are alone is good, and being silent in this way together is particularly dynamic and healing.
Think how surprised they would be to hear, for the first time in their lives, the sound of no sound.
The first is the Wonderful Sound, the sound of the wonders of life that are calling you. This is the sound of the birds, of the rain, and so on.
The second sound is the Sound of the One Who Observes the World. This is the sound of listening, the sound of silence.
The third sound is the Brahma Sound. This is the transcendental sound, om, which has a long history in Indian spiritual thought.
The fourth sound is the Sound of the Rising Tide. This sound symbolizes the voice of the Buddha.
The fifth sound is the Sound That Transcends All Sounds of the World.
When you’ve been able to still all the noise inside of you, when you’ve been able to establish silence, a thundering silence, in you, you begin to hear the deepest kind of calling from within yourself.
You’ve been full of thoughts, especially negative thoughts.
The deepest concern in you, as in many of us, is one you may not have perceived, one you may not have heard. Every one of us has an ultimate concern that has nothing to do with material or affective concerns. What do we want to do with our life? That is the question. We are here, but why are we here? Who are we, each of us individually? What do we want to do with our life? These are questions that we don’t typically have (or make) the time to answer.
If we’re not able to answer them, then we don’t have peace—and we don’t have joy, because no joy is possible without some peace.
with mindfulness, you can hear their response yourself, when you have some silence within.
You don’t have a separate self. If you remove your ancestors and your parents from you, there’s no “you” left.
You may see that you’re made of elements, like water for example. If you remove the water from you, there’s no “you” left. You’re made of earth. If you remove the element earth from you, there’s no “you” left. You’re made of air. You need air desperately; without air you cannot survive. So if you remove the element of air from you, there’s no “you” left.
Mindfulness gives you the inner space and quietness that allow you to look deeply, to find out who you are and what you want to do with your life.
You believe you don’t have enough conditions to be happy right now, and so you develop the habit many people have, of constantly running after one thing or another. “I cannot be peaceful now, I cannot stop and enjoy things now, because I need more conditions before I can be happy.”
If you can be here, if you can be free, then you can be happy right here and right now. You don’t have to run anymore.
Stop the noise in your mind in order for the wondrous sounds of life to be heard. Then you can begin to live your life authentically and deeply.
Technology supplies us with many devices that allow us to “stay connected.” These days, we are always “connected,” but we continue to feel lonely. We check incoming e-mail and social media sites multiple times a day. We e-mail or post one message after another. We want to share; we want to receive. We busy ourselves all day long in an effort to connect.
What we read, our conversations, the shows we watch, the online games we play, and our worries, thoughts, and anxieties are all food.
There are four kinds of food that every person consumes every day. In Buddhism, we call these kinds of food the Four Nutriments. They are edible food; sense impressions; volition; and consciousness, both individual and collective.
The third source of nutriment is volition. Volition is your will, your concern, your desire. This is food because it “feeds” your decisions, your actions, and your movements. Without any volition, without any desire to do anything,
The fourth kind of food is consciousness. This food includes your individual consciousness and the way your mind feeds itself and feeds your thoughts and actions. It also includes collective consciousness and how it affects you.
affected you are by the mood or the consciousness of the group you are in, whether that group is supportive, happy, angry, gossipy, competitive,
Because each nutriment affects us so deeply, it’s important to be aware of what and how much we are consuming. Our awareness is the key to our protection. Without protection, we absorb far too many toxins.
Often we eat something not because we’re hungry, but to console ourselves or to distract ourselves from uncomfortable feelings.
Sensory food is what we take in with our senses and our mind—everything we see, smell, touch, taste, and hear. External noise falls into this category, such as conversations, entertainment, and music. What we read and the information we absorb is also sensory food.
We are what we feel and perceive. If we are angry, we are the anger. If we are in love, we are the love. If we look at a snowy mountain peak, we are the mountain. While dreaming, we are the dream.
Don’t you want to give yourself some relief and close your sense windows? Are you afraid of solitude, of the emptiness and the loneliness you may find when you face yourself alone?
Conversation is also sensory food. Suppose you talk to a person who is full of bitterness, envy, or craving. During the conversation, you take in that person’s energy of despair.
Whenever we act, whether to walk to the store, call a friend, take a step, or go to work, we have an intention, a motivation that gets us moving, whether we realize it or not.
If you have space and silence to listen deeply to yourself, you may find within you a strong desire to help other people, to bring love and compassion to others, to create positive transformation in the world.
As with our meals, what we consume from our consciousness may be wholesome and healthy, or it may be toxic.
Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in. Breathing out, I know I’m breathing out. (In. Out.) Breathing in, my breath grows deep. Breathing out, my breath grows slow. (Deep. Slow.) Breathing in, I’m aware of my body. Breathing out, I calm my body. (Aware of body. Calming.) Breathing in, I smile. Breathing out, I release. (Smile. Release.) Breathing in, I dwell in the present moment. Breathing out, I enjoy the present moment. (Present moment. Enjoy.)
In order to be able to live our life, we have to stop that radio inside, turn off our internal discourse.
It’s important to become aware of what we feel, not just what we think.
We are our thoughts; but we are at the same time much more than just our thoughts. We are also our feelings, our perceptions, our wisdom, our happiness, and our love. When we know we are more than our thoughts, we can make the determination not to allow our thinking to take over and dominate us. Do our thoughts support our true intention in life? If not, we need to push the “reset” button. If we aren’t aware of our thoughts, they run rampant through our mind
Most of us have real anger and suffering living inside us. Perhaps in the past we were oppressed or mistreated, and all that pain is still right there, buried in our store consciousness. We haven’t processed and transformed our relationship with what happened to us and we sit there alone with all that anger, hatred, despair, and suffering. If we were abused when we were young, every time our thinking mind goes back over that event, it’s like we’re experiencing the abuse all over again. We offer ourselves up to be abused over and over like that many times every day. That’s ruminating on the
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Just as a candle radiates light, heat, and scent, our thinking manifests itself in various ways, including in our speech and our actions.
