Meditation involves a principle of awareness that you can practice in every moment of your life.
While the time that we spend on the cushion most definitely has an effect on the quality of our emotional and mental life in the rest of the day, making an effort to practice mindfulness during so-called “ordinary” activities such as working, driving, doing housework, and spending time with our friends and families is a very powerful practice.
We often see these things as impediments to practice. In fact an interesting thing is that a lot of people fall into the habit of using the word “practice” as a shorthand for “meditation practice.” So they’ll say things like, “My practice is going very well. I’ve been sitting every day.” And this implies that the rest of our lives is “not practice.” But in fact, anything we do can be part of our practice, which I’d broadly define as the ongoing effort to cultivate mindfulness, compassion, and an awareness of things’ ungraspability.
So we can use eating as a practice. We can use driving as a practice. We can use showering, or shaving, or taking a leak as a practice.
No matter what we’re doing, we can always be more mindful when we’re doing it. No matter what we’re doing, we can always be kinder and more compassionate; even when we’re on our own, we can be kind with ourselves, or show an attitude of kindness and care in the way we handle objects. And we can always — always! — recognize when we’re hoping on in some way (to feelings, to anticipated outcomes, to thoughts) and learn to let go.
Living mindfully in this way is incredibly enriching. It helps prevent the arising of unpleasant states of mind such as stress and depression, and it also helps us to live with freedom, dignity, and with respect for ourselves and others.
Living with mindfulness brings us into the field ethics, of talking about how best we can live our lives. But it also is a way of living meditatively.
This section of the site will develop into an extensive guide to applying the principles of meditation to your daily activities.
We’ve started with a section on bringing Metta (lovingkindness) into your everyday life, and more information on mindfulness. Soon, we’ll add other tools to help you live with more awareness.
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i would like to try a new way of thinking in all things
i would be glad if you could teach me what you are suppose to think of while meditating.
Please be aware that you are thinking. Once you think of something, it will ask you to follow. You have to stop this to happen. When you are thinking, be aware that you are thinking. If you do not have anything to do, focus on your breathing.
Do not expect anything. Just do mindfulness.
Hi Mikal,
we have some extensive guides to meditation on our site. I'd suggest starting with the mindfulness of breathing practice and move on to the development of lovingkindness meditation.
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
I would like a meditation for anxiety and panic attacks, to relieve them.
Hi Kathaleen,
Panic attacks are not something that I know much about, but I'll see if I can find a meditation teacher who has some experience in that area.
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
hi ive suffered from depression all my life looking for answers in meditation got any suggestions?
Hi Ed.
We have a whole section on depression. Hopefully something there will be helpful.
A very detailed and helpful article. I would like to keep in touch about more such articles.
we will become like animals if we stop our imagination and only feel sensations of our body.its not good to get lost in whirpools of mind but how will we being humans invent new things
Hi Vaibhav,
I don't think anyone's suggesting that we permanently move into a state of "only feeling sensations in the body." It's very useful to do this for periods of time in order to quiet the mind, but there's a value in thinking as well. And actually, what I've found is that by getting out of those "whirlpools of thought," genuine creativity arises. When the mind is cluttered with unnecessary thinking there's no room for creative thoughts to arise.
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
Vaibhav - I've founsd it useful to distinguish between 'thinking' and 'having thoughts'. Thinking is the process which we are more in control of; when we are 'having thoughts' we are pushed from one place to another. Meditation allows us to think - and, therefore, if we wish, to allow genuine creativity to develop.
Dear Bodhipaksa,
Lately when I try to apply mindfulness in my daily life, I feel like I'm controlling myself or more specifically, repressing myself. Ultimately it makes me angry with the practice, because I don't think I should repress any of my feelings, to the point of not wanting anything to do with meditation any more. It makes me feel like I'm rejecting myself, or telling myself that what I'm feeling is "wrong" and instead of being for example, angry about something, I should repress that and force myself to be calm instead. I understand mindfulness is not about control, but rather awareness, however it is very hard to distinguish it when I try to put into practice, and it only frustrates me. Is there any advice you can give me please? Thank you.
Hi Andrea,
I'm sorry to hear you're having these difficulties. There's nothing inherent in meditation practice, of course, that says that anger, or any other emotion, is "wrong." It's simply that some emotional states tend to lead to suffering, and others lead to greater fulfillment. It's not a case of "right" and "wrong" but of "doesn't make me happier" and "makes me happier." And we're not, ideally, repressing anything, but simply letting go of unhelpful emotions and trains of thought, and instead choosing to cultivate more positive ones.
What's going on with you is simply that habits you have are being brought to light. This is ultimately a positive thing, even if it's uncomfortable, since you can't learn to deal with those habits unless you become conscious of them. But of course you have to be conscious that repression is what *you do* rather than blaming "the practice." The practice, after all, is not a thing external to you, but is simply what you do.
So I'd suggest that you look for more acceptance and patience as you work with yourself. I don't know if you're doing lovingkindness meditation, but it's very useful for helping us be less self-critical.
You might also find mantra meditation useful, since it's not so much about "doing anything" with our experience, but more about simply opening ourselves up to the experience of the mantra.