How to access the bliss, love + unity that is already within you
I just found out that tomorrow (my birthday!) is World Mindfulness Day. I love knowing that September 12th is a day where people all over the world come together to experience the practice and way of being that has so transformed my life.
In honor of that, I thought I’d send out an exercise with the intention of clarifying the deeper meaning and transformational power of mindfulness.
Someone recently brought to my attention the misunderstanding that mindfulness means having “no thoughts” - that the goal is pushing thoughts away and having an empty mind. Now sometimes, in certain meditation practices, one plays with emptying the mind. But mindfulness is a way of living, and living without thoughts would be impossible. We need thoughts for so many reasons and our minds are very helpful! The problem comes when we mistake our minds and our thoughts for who we really are.
Let me explain this experientially. Close your eyes, and for the next 30 seconds, just be still.
…What happened? Did you notice a ton of thoughts coming and going? Worries about the future, regrets about the past, curiosity about this exercise? Of course! Our minds are constantly thinking.
Now let’s try the exercise again. This time, I’d like you to be AWARE of your thoughts. Noticed them, watch them. Do your best not to judge the thoughts, but put all your attention on noticing the thoughts arising, then leaving, and new thoughts coming.
How did that go? Were you able to become aware of your thoughts? If you were, the question is who was aware of the thoughts? If there is a part of you that is AWARE of your thoughts, that means you can’t BE your thoughts.
Most of the time, we are completely identified with our thoughts, living in our heads, and in the swirling, looping projections of the mind. We live mostly in the past and the future. And when we identify with our minds, we can spend a lot of time in fear and regret, rather than in the goodness of the present moment.
The truth is that our deeper selves are not our thoughts, not our minds. We are the awareness beneath the thoughts. The still space from which the thoughts arise. This awareness or consciousness is in itself bliss, love, and unity. You may have glimpsed this bliss and unity in a moment of awe- when your mind was struck silent by a beautiful sunset or the smile of a baby. What really happened was that you momentarily contacted a state of awareness that is always available to you - once you dis-identified from your busy mind.
The more we practice mindfulness, the more we begin to LIVE from this place of stillness and true happiness. (As opposed to the temporary satisfaction and resistance of the fearful, striving mind.)
When we stay in connection to that awareness, whether during meditation or during daily life, we stay connected to a part of us that is stable, calm, centered, and loving – no matter what’s happening in our external world. This is why mindfulness is so powerful.
At your core, you are already mindful, these practices are just helping you to peel away the conditioning and habits that prevent you from accessing that part of yourself. If this feels confusing or overwhelming, trust that it won’t stay that way. With dedication and focus it will get easier and easier to understand and live from a state of mindfulness and fundamental joy.