The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

There’s been a lot of talk in the media and in some books you read about how mindfulness is this miracle cure and can solve all your problems.

However there’s a problem with that as it can mean you’re going into this practice with a goal or objective in mind. The art of mindfulness, and it is an art, is to just be in this moment with whatever is and that is not always comfortable.

There are amazing benefits to practicing mindfulness but it works because we’re not trying to gain benefits instead we are just getting to drop into ourselves. It’s not about fixing the problem, it’s about realising there isn’t a problem in the first place, mindfulness is a state of being it’s not something to accomplish. We are all so used to doing, trying, and striving that simply being is not given the time of day.

So once your mindfulness develops and your meditation practice moves on, what happens if you were expecting all of your problems to disappear? Do you feel disappointed or let down, it wasn’t what you were expecting?

Well here’s the rub, with mindfulness you go in with no expectations, no preconceived ideas about what you thought was going to happen and that’s when this place of awareness can blossom. In that place of complete acceptance, how it is in this moment; that’s where your power arises from, this moment and only this moment. It’s here where it gets interesting because a lot of the time we spend trying to get away from this moment, constantly distracting ourselves from the here and now. How many of you have just sat down and done nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, no checking your phone, no telly, no snacking on food, no talking – just sitting there in silence, try it just for 20 minutes and see how uncomfortable your mind gets.

Now this is not easy and it’s not always spoke about but it’s important to realise that just being in that space of acceptance is your only hope of real change, and that’s the beauty of mindfulness. It’s not about wanting things to be different it’s about fully surrendering to how things are and then things (life) will be different or at least your outlook on it. It’s a wonderful paradox that you can only experience once your practice begins to get challenging.

So I say bring it on, the good the bad and the ugly, what an amazing life this is if we can suspend our judgements and fully engage in the flow of existence. You’re already whole – just get out of your own way!

ALL IS ALWAYS WELL EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS UNBELIEVABLY UNWELL – Adyashanti

Paul

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