Living Mindfully

I was recently asked to share my experience living mindfully as well as my meditation practice; this document served to organize my thoughts.

After years of intermittent meditation and study I decided in 2013 to permanently change my lifestyle. Unlike my halfhearted meditation practice, it seemed important at the time to make immediate, substantial, and irreversible changes to how I lived. So within a 3-month period, I left my job, sold my home in Colorado, and began a solo trek around the western US living in my Airstream travel trailer. No longer burdened with work, I spent much of the time reflecting and studying mindfulness and Buddhism. I was meditating regularly, trying hard to be non-judgmental about my practice, and searching for a stable group meditation environment to support my practice.   

While working, my mind was always filled with endless thought, all of which seemed to require my immediate attention; I felt like I was always “on” and thus always stressed out. One way I escaped from this stress was thrill seeking adventures which required complete focus of mind and body. However, after the adventure was over, I found that the stress quickly returned. My journey helped me realize that I (i.e., my mind) was the cause of my stress - not my job, not my employer, and not anyone else. During my journey, I remember reading a phrase from a book on buddhism (don’t recall the title or author) that helped me immensely. In general, it said - your mind sees everything as a problem but in reality there are no problems; only situations, some of which may require your immediate attention but most probably do not. During my journey, I reached a point where I could observe my thoughts and recognize that feeling stressed or feeling happy was my choice.

I meditate twice a day; 30 minutes each time beginning at 6am and again at 6pm. I meditate in my bedroom, which is large enough to accommodate my bed and an 8’x10’ rug. I keep my meditation cushion on the rug and treat the rug as my “meditation room”, entering it the same way each time I meditate. I follow a simple ritual before and after each meditation session which all total (meditation and ritual) takes about an hour. Meditating twice daily at home is an important part of my practice, but, it isn’t enough. Group meditation, supports my daily practice through interaction with others.  

Living Mindfully

Beyond daily and group meditation, I’ve spent much of my journey thinking about how one stays present the rest of each day. For me, whether working or engaged in some other activity (e.g., commuting, mowing the lawn, shopping, eating, exercising, playing, etc.), reality creates a duality. For example, one can be present during meditation but how does one live in the present when not meditating. 

Recently, I had an opportunity to practice working mindfully at the Won Buddhism Meditation Center. One task during a work session at the Center was to dip malt syrup from a 5-gallon bucket into individual quart containers. With a consistency not dissimilar to honey, malt syrup can be messy to work with, especially in large quantities:) Dipping the syrup from the large 5-gallon bucket into much smaller containers, I found it impossible not to spill some when beginning to pour the full dipper into the quart container. My western mind quickly thought about how there had to be a better (more efficient) way to perform this task; for example, what about a food-grade siphon pump? But after awhile, my mind came back to the present and I began to focus my attention on the syrup as it slowly poured out of the dipper into the smaller containers. This was a slow process but the pouring syrup allowed me to concentrate my attention and, at least briefly, mindfully perform this task. After awhile, I performed the task methodically and no longer worried about how long it took or how it might be performed more efficiently.

Another work task involved cleaning the Temple; specifically, dusting and window cleaning. I found my mind wondering while performing these tasks. While I periodically came back to the present to focus on the task, it was challenging to stay present. I think this task was more difficult to do mindfully (compared to pouring syrup) because I was moving around (from room to room) in a  relatively new environment. 

I spent a good part of my younger years living in the past and worrying about the future. Over 50+ years, I developed habits that I’m now trying to undo by practicing meditation and living mindfully; it is a work in progress.