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Cultivating sampajañña
I’ve talked elsewhere about the aspect of mindfulness that is called sampajañña - our inner compass that tells us where we have been and where we are going. Now a compass is most useful when we have a map to help us navigate, and so the reason that we have just done this exercise is to help us have a deeper mindfulness of who we are and of who we are becoming. We’re providing a sense of direction so that we can use our sampajañña in order to navigate towards our ideals.
Every decision we make in life - from how we are going to prioritize tasks at work to how we are going to deal with a difficult child - is an opportunity to make choices in the light of where we ultimately wish to end up. We have an opportunity in every such decision to move towards or away from our ideals. The more that we are in touch with those ideals, the wiser our decisions will be.
I suggest that you write down those ideals in some form and put them somewhere that you can easily and frequently review them. I have a copy of my own “personal mission statement” (as I call my ideals) in my planner, and I consult them at least weekly. Other people put theirs on the bathroom mirror so that they can remind themselves of what is important even more frequently.
Referring to your ideals frequently is an excellent way of clarifying your goals, and is an important step towards committing to bringing those goals into the present. Over time you will learn to see yourself not just as what you currently are, but in terms of what you are becoming. This, I have found, is one of the most empowering experiences we can have. What we currently are may not amount to much, but what we are becoming can be truly wonderful and a source of constant inspiration.
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