An Introduction

 I started meditating daily at age 13. I came to meditation for the same reason that many other people started to meditate - “Because I didn’t like stress, and it sucked.”

 Before I was 13, I had tried and stopped meditation for periods of time. But this time was different. I knew that the hardest part of meditation wasn’t the ability to sit for a very long time on my ass, it was the ability to commit to the schedule set and the practice.

 Keeping this in mind, I meditated every day for 5, 10, 20 minutes, and kept increasing from there. I loved it. For one, it quieted the thoughts in my head so I could feel lighter from time to time. Less bored, less anxious. But then I also started to notice a new freedom and happiness that began to set in. Conflicts with my family lessened, I became naturally more confident, and I just felt a lot more free.

 Eventually, in my 7th month of daily meditation, every time I sat down I could enter very rare happy and blissful meditative states. I was very excited, but after 2 weeks these states stopped happening and my meditation became dull and boring. I kept trying to get it back, but I couldn’t. It took me some time to let go, and see that these are the way things are. Things come and go, and it is not our business to say whether they should stay with us. This is true for any part in our lives.

 The very wanting was the thing that was keeping me stuck. So when I let go of wanting things to be different than what they were my life and meditation were able to move into new territory. My grandfather has been meditating for 40 years, and he always loves reminding us - “Eating, sleeping, drinking, just that I feel is already very good, life is very simple.” From this, we can learn that we don’t have to go chasing after things. There is a natural happiness that we can all find when we rest in the moment. But if we believe the story that we can only be complete if we get this or that, then we’ve already lost that happiness.

 I find that we can already be very happy just taking a walk, feeling the soft breeze, the warmth of the sun on the skin. How the feet feels on the floor, the vibrant colours of the trees. There is a natural happiness here that I feel like everyone has experienced before.

Waking Up

To live we do not need to go skydiving, we do not need to climb mount everest or become the founder of a large corporate business. To live we only need to live now, then we can begin to understand ourselves. The main reason sports are so enjoyable, I find, is because our attention is only on the game, the dribbling the basketball or spiking the volleyball, in that moment we are not lost in thought. We have to be present to win. So mindfulness is asking us to wake up. Every time we notice that we are lost in thought - just right now, in this moment, and come back to the Now, we wake up. It really does feel like this in my experience, every time I realize I’m lost thinking about something else and come back to the present, it does feel like I was just in a dream, but when I come back to the present, it feels like waking up.

The Space in Between the Thoughts

Have you noticed how noisy the mind seems to be. It's preoccupied with things to do, or things that have already happened. The voice in your head is always commenting and judging. If we try to stop it, we will realize we can't actually control it. The problem is actually that we think that we are the voice in our head. But one of the first insights in meditation practice is that the thoughts and feelings come and go on their own accord. When we realilze this, we are not as inclined to follow after every thought. We simply watch, without believing the stories that the thoughts tell us. So sit down, and try to notice any breaks in between the thoughts, any areas of silence that you can find. Like when sitting in the quiet forest, only the soft sounds of the birds chirping. The leaves falling and drifting to the ground. The deep breeze rustling the trees. All in silence.

Noticing

Mindfulness is simply noticing. You can notice how it feels to sit on this chair, you can notice any sounds you hear, you can notice the bright vibrant colors all around you. It's all to be found here. Another thing you may notice are any thoughts that come around. Even while reading this book. Any feelings that you can find. Comfortable or uncomfortable. Whatever you notice, that is fine. Take in a deep breath and take in all that's around you, and in you.