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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Brother, Thanks for your reply. I have found that if I try to be in the present while doing anything by trying to be aware of my body/mind as they are at that moment as well as the thing I am doing/seeing/touching at that moment, it keeps me off thinking of the past and future. so, for instance, as i am typing these words, i am aware of my fingers touching the key board, the way i am sitting, the feel of the chair on my legs and so on....is that the way to do it? should i try and do this with every action of mine throughout the day? was this the way of Buddha and/or realised monks? i don't want to feel that it is something that i am making up on my own!! [you know how the mind is--once i start doing this, the mind says, "maybe you are cooking it all up!"]
i would be grateful, brother, if you could clarify these questions, and if you could kindly guide me to some Buddhist internet resources [such as essays by non-western monks] that deal with mindfulness and being in the moment in daily life [outside the formal meditation sitting]--resources that are based on suttas of the Buddha preferably
with love
yoginder sikand
Hi, Yoginder.
What you're doing is entirely traditional. You might want to try Gunaratana's "Mindfulness in Plain English" as a resource. At the moment I can't think of anything on the web that's by non-western monks. I'm sure there's a lot there, but I'd basically end up doing what you can do yourself, which is to use Google :)
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
I just wanted to say thankyou Bodhipaksa. After a particularly difficult night, following a particularly difficult year, I have found alot of peace just in the way that you write. Even without hearing your voice I found myself rested - by the way you write and from your words. So thankyou. Tonight will be a better night as a result of finding your site tonight. Regards.
Thank you, TJ.
Hi,
First of all, thank you for the amazing articles!
I was wondering if you could give me tips on how to incorporate mindfulness into daily life. I'm a university student - should I be more mindful during lectures or when doing homework? How would you suggest I do it? I tried doing it by being mindful of breath, but I found it just distracts me from understanding the subject.
Somewhat unrelated - do you ever have problems with procrastination? Are there any mindful ways of dealing with that? Many thanks in advance!!
Hi, Ranetka.
I'd imagine that taking your attention to your breathing might not help you pay attention during lectures. Paying attention to your posture would, though. I teach a study skills and personal development course in an American university each summer, and one of the things I emphasize is good posture, which helps you to breath efficiently and to remain alert. And then mindfulness of the teacher's voice, gestures, and actions (writing, etc.) is helpful as well. You also need to practice mindfulness of the topic being discussed, so that you're trying to understand the "story" that's being told. When unrelated thoughts come in, just let go of them.
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
Hi, I am want to know a bit more about "Informal Mindfulness" in daily life, I am a bit confuse..
I.e. when I am practicing mindful walking and I meet my friend, should I stop and socialize with them? or should I continue to do my mindful walk? It is kind of rude to ignore them if they want to talk to you.
Same situational applies to mindful eating, when I am eating mindfully, can I socialize with my friend, I cant ignore them.
I know mindfulness it about being present, so should I talk to them, then shift back my attention to my eating or walking, and when they talk to me again, I shift my attention to them? It is like shifting mindfulness from one task to another. It is possible?
I hope you can provide me some insight. Thank you.
It seems you already know the answers to the questions you're asking :)
Thank you so much for answering, :)
Ya, I understanding what it means by "being present" in mindfulness now. But how about "Non-judgemental" because in situation like when i am mindfully talking to someone, can I smile, laugh or whatever?
Or when i am doing mindful walking, when i am feeling pleasant, can I express it?
Can being mindful makes you a emotionless robot?
I am sorry for posting such stupid question, I am just a bit confuse about the "Non-judgemental" part. Thank you in advance for your advice.
It's certainly not a stupid question -- it's just a question about what a term means. Being "non-judgmental" means not reacting to things with aversion or ill will. So smiling, laughing etc. are not even close to being judgemental. When you're feeling happy, express it! The sense that you shouldn't express your happiness could, on the other hand, be a form of aversion, and a judgement that it's "wrong" to be happy or express joy.
By the way, sorry for questioning again, I need some clarification as I couldn't find any answer on the web. It is regarding my previous post on 23rd of April about "Informal Mindfulness". From your comment, can I deduce that the way i practice mindfulness is correct? The shifting mindfulness from one task to another, depend on which is the present one & priority?
Well, how would it be helpful to ignore a friend when you're out walking? Wouldn't that be rather rigid and unfriendly?
i have read osho and gurdjieff books and as far as i understood both of them teach us to keep a subtle awareness in our daily lives.gurdjieff called it self remembering while osho called it awareness but it requires extreme efforts to acquire this.
Hi, I LOVE this site!!! thank you so much for all your work!! My question... I first started meditating when I was 22 and then it was off and on for many years. Recently, I meditating daily for 3 weeks + walking meditation and study. The benefits were noticeable both during sitting and during the day as I was able to watch extremely cunning negative thoughts and watch them quickly pass. However, I was offered a full time teaching job which happens to be a very demanding position, full of major stress. I am finding it very difficult to maintain any kind of mindfulness throughout the day. Any suggestions?
Hi, Adam.
There really are hundreds of ways to bring more mindfulness into daily life. You can take brief pauses for just two or three minutes in order to follow your breathing, or you can practice lovingkindness for those around you, or you can spend a mindful minute just listening, or you can be aware of your body as you walk, for example. You might want to read Jan Chozen Bays' How to Train a Wild Elephant, which offers dozens of exercises designed to help you be more mindful.