What Is Mindfulness?

Dear Friends,

​Thich Nhat Hanh said "Mindfulness is our inner sunshine." I absolutely love that. If you let yourself feel that, you will know at a deep, intuitive level what mindfulness and the practice of mindfulness are. Mindfulness is settling down into this aspect of ourselves which we could consider to be the essence of ourselves. Mindfulness is attention but attention is not bland or value free. Mindfulness could be thought of as one side of a coin and the other side is loving kindness. This inner sunshine, this radiance, is our true nature, the very best of ourselves. It both receives, sees and understands other beings deeply, and radiates light and warmth. Mindfulness is looking deeply and feeling deeply. It comes from relaxing into ourselves and the world in the present moment. It is a knowing that comes from direct experience. It is bigger and more inclusive than thinking. Thinking is just one of the patterns in the world that mindfulness beholds. Mindfulness takes in and radiates light and warmth to the whole. My aspiration is to be more mindful more of the time and to grow toward the time when I go through my day with a deep experience of spacious presence. My aspiration is also to share the ways I have learned to practice this and to cultivate a community in which we do this together to heal and transform ourselves and to heal and transform our world. I look forward to our doing this together.

Be well,

Keith.