Remembering the Miracle

Contacting the richness of sensory experience, with mindful attention is always its own reward. It might be the simple pleasure of an in-breath, or noticing a painful emotional contraction in the body, or perhaps a passing moment looking into the eyes of the cashier at the grocery store….the particularities of the context don’t actually matter, but the quality of attention we bring to these moments can be a great gift to ourselves and others.

It is actually possible to welcome sensory experience, in any moment, as it is. Bringing the attentional capacities of mindfulness - concentration, sensory clarity, and equanimity - to this moment, enables us to fully experience the miracle that is our existence.

It can be easy to forget the miracle of life.

It can be overwhelming to look at the state of the world today. I think it’s important that we make room for overwhelm, doubt, and even depression. What if we normalized depression rather than pathologized it? If we are honest, I think we can admit that it would be strange, even surprising, if depression weren’t rampant in today’s society. So let’s not be hard on ourselves when we feel beat down or overwhelmed by difficult circumstances. The challenges of our time are an invitation to bring more and more (and more and more) care to our situation: the one we are in right here and now.

If we’re ever feeling stuck or in a rut, most of us could benefit from some form of help in order to find our way through it, and there’s a lot of good help to be had these days: we know more today about the human nervous system and the basic ingredients for happiness than we’ve ever known before. It is actually a wonderful time to be alive! And let’s not forget that one of the most effective ways to help ourselves is to help others, but not at our own expense. If we try to help others at our own expense, no matter how beautiful our intentions, it is unlikely that we are embodying wellness in a sustainable way. It is not selfish to put on our own oxygen mask first.

Mindfulness meditation is one of the most potent tools I’ve discovered to help me with putting on my own oxygen mask first. With patient practice over time, I’m beginning to recognize that my mindfulness practice is the oxygen mask. An equanimous relationship with Beingness itself is an essential ingredient for feeling nourished and available to the fullness of life: both the dreadful and the wonderful, both the darkness and the light. The pscyho-spiritual rewards of concentration, sensory clarity, and equanimity are completely and utterly reliable, and not only that: they are ever-presently available. But for most of us, it requires training to recognize these basic elements of mindful awareness.

This year, in addition to my musical projects, I am dreaming into new ways to share this practice. In the meantime, you might check out my resources page, and let’s keep taking one compassionate step at a time, with care for ourselves, each other, and our dear planet.

One breath at a time

Hey there, my dear in-breath, I feel you.

Thank you for showing up in this moment.

I’m enjoying the vitality that you bring to my body and mind.

I feel you and, naturally, I smile.

Hey there, my dear out-breath, I feel you too!

It feels good to let you go.

You remind me that I don’t have to hang on.

I can relax and trust that the next breath will come

…until it doesn’t…

and I can trust that too!

You’ve been a good friend to me,

my constant companion for the whole of my life.

I like this arrangement we have going.

Let’s keep it up, one breath at a time.

Deal?

Deal.

Mindfulness Training

Learning to be with what is, by way of mindfulness training, has been one of the most wonderful and useful skills I’ve ever learned. Of course, I’m still learning about, deepening, and expanding these attentional capacities, and I imagine this will continue for the rest of my life.

One way to understand mindfulness training is to break it down into the cultivation of 3 basic attentional skills: Concentration, Sensory Clarity, and Equanimity.

Concentration is the ability to focus on what is relevant to you in the moment.

Sensory Clarity is the ability to be clearly aware of what is arising in your sensory experience in real time.

Equanimity is the ability to allow sensory experiences to come and go freely without push or pull.

To cultivate these attentional capacities is to tend to the foundational elements of human wellbeing. Whether we are interested in getting relief from suffering, getting better at a particular skill, cultivating meaningful relationships, or knowing ourselves at the deepest level: mindfulness practice can reliably and constructively support any and all of these goals. For this reason, I have often felt that mindfulness training is one of the most productive ways I could ever spend my time, because the state of my awareness is the very ground from which everything unfolds. To bring the skills of concentration, sensory clarity, and equanimity to our experience moment by moment is to invite skillfulness, grace, and clear presence to what is already arising and passing. It is a kind of true power: a power that is both relaxed and fierce, open and penetrating, resilient and curious, honest and loving.

We are living in a time where high quality teachings on mindfulness have become accessible to most people across the planet. It doesn’t require believing in any kind of religious doctrines or new age concepts, but rather points the individual to their own direct experience. Training our concentration, sensory clarity, and equanimity over time, especially if we have a good support system in place, is nearly guaranteed to enrich and expand our basic wellbeing, both individually and collectively.

I spent the last couple of years teaching mindfulness classes, and while I’m currently taking a break from teaching and guiding in order to focus on making music, my intention is to utilize my artistic life to share this transformative practice and spread it as far and wide as I am able. It seems that we as a species have some growing pains ahead of us, and we’re going to need as many people as possible to cultivate our inner resources and capacities. I can’t imagine any facet of human development that is more essential as we meet this challenging moment in the story of planet earth. Mindfulness practice is not necessarily easy, but it just might be the most important training we could ever do.

At the moment, I am in a process of inquiry regarding how I’ll continue to share this practice, but in the mean time, if you are in need of resources to get started, check out this free book by Julianna Raye about the Unified Mindfulness system. Also, my friend Eric Rockey is teaching periodic classes very much akin to the classes I was teaching over the last couple of years and I’d highly recommend him as a teacher.

We are together! May we hold our experience and all of our relationships with great care, for the good of all.

Impermanence

Breathing, seeing, smiling

I take in the early morning light and the texture of this beautiful mountainside

I am grateful for my eyesight and the shapes of the world that evoke this enchantment I'm feeling

It seems nearly inevitable that wildfires will burn through this forest in the coming years

It makes sense, it seems we humans have initiated this change:

It has been a warm winter without much snow.

I cherish what is here while it is here

Breathing, seeing, smiling

I am grateful

This Is It

This is it

This is the life that I am

This moment is the unique ever-shifting shape of me

I am what I am and I could not be otherwise and this is always true

I actively choose to meet this human experience with open eyes and a willing heart

This is a Miracle, here and now

It has always been here

It is simple

The gift has already been given

Nothing stands in its way

It is something I’d forgotten

There is grief and great joy in the remembrance

I forgive myself

I smile

This is it.