Understand that “mind is the forerunner of all things,” meaning your entire life is a manifestation of your mind, which provides a profound motivation to explore and understand its workings with deep interest.
Approach the observation of your mind’s machinations, including its ridiculous and sublime aspects, with a quality of deep interest and fascination, as this sustains practice and makes it joyful.
Through meditation and mindfulness, refine your perception of the momentary, changing nature of sensations and thoughts, understanding that everything is arising and passing quickly, which helps decondition clinging and craving.
Approach meditation as a skill, like learning a musical instrument, requiring consistent practice of the basics to improve concentration and steady the mind over time.
View getting lost in thought and then restarting as the actual process of meditation, rather than an obstacle, to encourage persistence and reduce self-criticism.
When the mind wanders during meditation, gently acknowledge being lost and then “just begin again” with the object of attention, as this repeated return is how the mind is trained.
Understand that a wandering mind is a natural part of meditation for almost everyone, including experienced practitioners, to avoid self-judgment and doubt.
Simply “sit and know you’re sitting” as a foundational, open, and easeful instruction to settle into awareness, allowing other experiences like breathing and sounds to naturally arise within that frame.
Aim for a balance of relaxed and alert in meditation, using relaxation as an antidote to over-efforting and alertness as an antidote to spacing out, to find an effortless balance in awareness.
Recognize that the balance between relaxed and alert is impermanent and requires continuous adjustment, so intermittently check the quality of your balance (e.g., “is it getting too tight? Is it getting too loose?”) during practice.
Be aware of and avoid a “casual” or “more or less mindful” state where you’re not closely connected to the moment’s experience, as this leaves room for background mental noise and reduces attention quality.
Pay attention to subtle feelings of “rushing,” which is a sense of leaning into the next moment or being ahead of yourself, regardless of physical speed, as it indicates being “more or less mindful” and not grounded in the present.
Intermittently ask yourself “What’s the attitude in the mind right now?” during meditation or daily life; the act of asking can help the mind settle back from subtle leaning forward or rushing, even if no explicit answer is found.
Pay attention to any level of emotional reactivity as a signal that your mind has gotten lost in a story, indicating a lapse in close mindfulness.
If you realize your mind has been drifting off with many background thoughts, take this as an indication that you are in a “more or less mindful” state and need to re-engage.
Practice becoming aware of the “undercurrent of thoughts”—light, quickly passing thoughts that often go unnoticed—because being lost in them reconditions habit patterns and prevents deeper presence of mind.
Recognize that the “undercurrent of thoughts” acts as “thieves of meditation,” subtly stealing mindfulness and reconditioning the mind, so cultivate awareness of them during daily activities like showering or washing dishes.
When noticing unhelpful or unskillful mind states, frame your response with acceptance (“I’m glad to see you”) rather than self-judgment, honoring the wisdom of seeing them.
When an unwholesome or delusive pattern of mind arises, acknowledge it by saying “Mara, I see you” to recognize it, let go of identification, and free the mind from being caught.
Cultivate a sense of humor when observing the “ridiculous” things the mind does, as not taking thoughts too seriously creates space and lightness, aiding in not being caught by them.
Understand that “the mind has no pride” and will do anything, which is a liberating realization that fosters openness and a sense of humor, preventing you from being caught by its ridiculous machinations.
Consciously cultivate habits of close and careful attention to reduce the mental space available for habituated patterns of desire, aversion, or restlessness to manifest.
Employ pithy phrases that arise intuitively as “hacks” to unhook your mind from being caught in unhelpful thought patterns or desires during meditation and daily life.
When experiencing unhelpful or seductive desires and fantasies, label them “dead end” as soon as they arise to prevent going down the full path and help free the mind.
Download the 10% with Dan Harris app at danharris.com or your app store to sign up for Joseph Goldstein’s free seven-day New Year’s meditation challenge, which offers a masterclass and on-ramp to Buddhist meditation for all levels.
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