The practice of mindfulness can help us get out of that prison and begin to learn how to live our lives in the present moment. If we are aware that we’re replaying the past, we can make a concentrated effort to notice something that is healthy and wonderful right in front of us at that very moment. It might be a part of our body that is working well and not aching; it may be the blue sky or the softness of a pillow under our head. If we breathe and pay attention to this wonderful thing that is present with us right now, then the movie will recede and lose some of its power, as if it no longer is being fed the electricity it needs to keep going.
You can even take the hand of the wounded child within you and invite her to come with you into the present moment. This can be very nourishing and healing. It will make you stronger so that later on when you want to look into the past you can do so with more perspective, while remaining firmly grounded in the present moment. This way you don’t lose yourself in the sorrows of the past.
CONCRETE PRACTICES
1 :: Mindful Eating
When we eat a meal, there are two objects of our mindfulness: the food and the people who are there with us during the meal. Practicing in this way we are sure to find better and better ways of consuming food without exploiting our Earth and other living beings. Before eating a meal you can read, either aloud or to yourself, the Five Contemplations. Of course we don’t just read the Contemplations but we meditate on the words throughout the meal.
The Five Contemplations
1.This food is a gift of the whole universe, the Earth, the sky, and much hard work.
2.May we eat in mindfulness and with gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.
3.May we transform our unskillful states of mind, especially our greed.
4.May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of beings, preserve our planet, and reverse the process of global warming.
5.We accept this food in order to nourish our brotherhood and sisterhood, build our Sangha, and realize our ideal of serving all beings.
If we look deeply we shall see that the topsoil from which our vegetables grow is composed of the dead bodies of many plants and animals including humans, so we say that it is the gift of numerous living beings.
In order to be worthy of the food we have received, we simply have to be mindful and feel grateful while we’re eating. If we’re not mindful and grateful the food loses its reality and becomes like ghost food. When we feel grateful, we feel happy. We feel grateful to Mother Earth, to Father Sun, and to all those who have worked. so hard to produce the food. Each grain of rice is soft and fragrant but it is also the result of the suffering of the little animals who died as it was cultivated and harvested as well as the suffering of the workers who harvested it. Meditating like this, we see how precious food is and we never want to waste it.
We don’t need to think while we eat. Before we eat we sometimes remind ourselves that in the same way we normally turn off the television before we eat, let’s also turn off the radio station with the call letters “NST” (nonstop thinking) so that we are truly able to enjoy the food and the presence of our family or our Sangha. Unnecessary thinking is an unskillful state of mind. Sometimes we eat our thoughts rather than the food; we’re so busy thinking that we don’t even know what’s in our mouth. Before we put something in our mouth we can look at it for a moment and call it by its name. If it’s a piece of carrot, we know that we’re going to chew carrot. We can chew it as many as fifty times so that it becomes liquid and is easy to digest. While we chew like that we visualize the carrot as it grew in the field and how the rain and sunshine have come into it.
When we go shopping we’re careful to buy the food that doesn’t cause too much harm to our planet. If we’re eating with our children, before the meal begins we can ask them to tell everyone present about one or two items on the table: where it comes from, whether it was grown organically and so on.
We eat to maintain a healthy body and mind in order to do the things that we most want to do: cultivate brotherhood and sisterhood, build Sangha, and be able to serve others. Eating food should nourish us spiritually as well as physically.
The practice of fasting can help us become healthier and more sensitive to our body’s needs. Much has been written about fasting and there are many ways to do it. Each of us can find a way to fast that suits our own constitution and can help purify body and mind. Some people fast one day a week or one day a month on a regular basis and the money that they save by not eating they donate to relieve the hunger in the world. An annual fast of a longer period of time is also very helpful.
2 :: Selective Television Watching
I knew a family that was contemplating whether or not to get rid of their television. Mother, father, grandmother, and all three children sat down to discuss the matter. In the end they decided to keep the television, but with certain conditions. At the beginning of every week they would sit down together and choose the programs they were going to watch. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to come to an agreement about what would be nourishing for the whole family. The parents tried not to be too strict and sometimes yielded to the children’s requests even when they didn’t really want to. There was one condition that was very helpful: after watching a program there would be a feedback session. Each member of the family would report on how they felt during and after watching the program—whether they felt inspired, compassionate, and that life has meaning, or whether they felt tired, frustrated, or overexcited. Everyone learned a great deal from this process and the children quickly became able to discern what kind of television watching was good for their state of mind. They no longer needed their parents to decide for them
You can even take the hand of the wounded child within you and invite her to come with you into the present moment. This can be very nourishing and healing. It will make you stronger so that later on when you want to look into the past you can do so with more perspective, while remaining firmly grounded in the present moment. This way you don’t lose yourself in the sorrows of the past.
CONCRETE PRACTICES
1 :: Mindful Eating
When we eat a meal, there are two objects of our mindfulness: the food and the people who are there with us during the meal. Practicing in this way we are sure to find better and better ways of consuming food without exploiting our Earth and other living beings. Before eating a meal you can read, either aloud or to yourself, the Five Contemplations. Of course we don’t just read the Contemplations but we meditate on the words throughout the meal.
The Five Contemplations
1.This food is a gift of the whole universe, the Earth, the sky, and much hard work.
2.May we eat in mindfulness and with gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.
3.May we transform our unskillful states of mind, especially our greed.
4.May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of beings, preserve our planet, and reverse the process of global warming.
5.We accept this food in order to nourish our brotherhood and sisterhood, build our Sangha, and realize our ideal of serving all beings.
If we look deeply we shall see that the topsoil from which our vegetables grow is composed of the dead bodies of many plants and animals including humans, so we say that it is the gift of numerous living beings.
In order to be worthy of the food we have received, we simply have to be mindful and feel grateful while we’re eating. If we’re not mindful and grateful the food loses its reality and becomes like ghost food. When we feel grateful, we feel happy. We feel grateful to Mother Earth, to Father Sun, and to all those who have worked. so hard to produce the food. Each grain of rice is soft and fragrant but it is also the result of the suffering of the little animals who died as it was cultivated and harvested as well as the suffering of the workers who harvested it. Meditating like this, we see how precious food is and we never want to waste it.
We don’t need to think while we eat. Before we eat we sometimes remind ourselves that in the same way we normally turn off the television before we eat, let’s also turn off the radio station with the call letters “NST” (nonstop thinking) so that we are truly able to enjoy the food and the presence of our family or our Sangha. Unnecessary thinking is an unskillful state of mind. Sometimes we eat our thoughts rather than the food; we’re so busy thinking that we don’t even know what’s in our mouth. Before we put something in our mouth we can look at it for a moment and call it by its name. If it’s a piece of carrot, we know that we’re going to chew carrot. We can chew it as many as fifty times so that it becomes liquid and is easy to digest. While we chew like that we visualize the carrot as it grew in the field and how the rain and sunshine have come into it.
When we go shopping we’re careful to buy the food that doesn’t cause too much harm to our planet. If we’re eating with our children, before the meal begins we can ask them to tell everyone present about one or two items on the table: where it comes from, whether it was grown organically and so on.
We eat to maintain a healthy body and mind in order to do the things that we most want to do: cultivate brotherhood and sisterhood, build Sangha, and be able to serve others. Eating food should nourish us spiritually as well as physically.
The practice of fasting can help us become healthier and more sensitive to our body’s needs. Much has been written about fasting and there are many ways to do it. Each of us can find a way to fast that suits our own constitution and can help purify body and mind. Some people fast one day a week or one day a month on a regular basis and the money that they save by not eating they donate to relieve the hunger in the world. An annual fast of a longer period of time is also very helpful.
2 :: Selective Television Watching
I knew a family that was contemplating whether or not to get rid of their television. Mother, father, grandmother, and all three children sat down to discuss the matter. In the end they decided to keep the television, but with certain conditions. At the beginning of every week they would sit down together and choose the programs they were going to watch. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to come to an agreement about what would be nourishing for the whole family. The parents tried not to be too strict and sometimes yielded to the children’s requests even when they didn’t really want to. There was one condition that was very helpful: after watching a program there would be a feedback session. Each member of the family would report on how they felt during and after watching the program—whether they felt inspired, compassionate, and that life has meaning, or whether they felt tired, frustrated, or overexcited. Everyone learned a great deal from this process and the children quickly became able to discern what kind of television watching was good for their state of mind. They no longer needed their parents to decide for them
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