Meditation is all about observing the mind. It's not about silencing the mind, it's just about watching the mind. And it's not even about watching the mind for a specific reason nor an intended goal - you just watch the mind, you cultivate the "witness", the space within, from which you watch all of the phenomena of your life - memories, feelings, impulses, cravings, aversions.
There is no future, only a fantasy. When you get to the future, it will be the present and will not feel any more special than the present feels now UNLESS you improve your relationship to the present. The present moment is all there is. We can’t be anywhere else. Of course we plan and take steps to set up future present moments, but never become attached to a specific idea of what the present will become.
Are you familiar with the affirmation, “If it is to be, it is up to me!”? Oh what an efficient way to lose your peace and squander your life. Meditation is the quest for contentment and, when performed correctly, (as a fringe benefit) could reveal the middle ground between the two toxic extremes of being scattered and being controlling. From that midpoint your choices, utterances and deeds could flow from a place of centered spontaneity, rather than from perpetual dissatisfaction: hungry and striving and relentless.
Any meditation is going to help you be present. But a practice you can do throughout the day might help you spread that around more. In dzogchen, Lama Lena recommends a long session (10-30 minutes) morning and evening, plus six short 1-2 minute mini-sessions during the day. Just every time you go to the bathroom sit down, and before you get up, straighten your channels and do a mini meditation. Then during the rest of the day just check and see if vast awareness is still there. Do that ALL the time. Takes a split second and you don't have to stop what you're doing.
Meditation is all about observing the mind. It's not about silencing the mind, it's just about watching the mind. And it's not even about watching the mind for a specific reason nor an intended goal - you just watch the mind, you cultivate the "witness", the space within, from which you watch all of the phenomena of your life - memories, feelings, impulses, cravings, aversions.
There is no future, only a fantasy. When you get to the future, it will be the present and will not feel any more special than the present feels now UNLESS you improve your relationship to the present. The present moment is all there is. We can’t be anywhere else. Of course we plan and take steps to set up future present moments, but never become attached to a specific idea of what the present will become.
Are you familiar with the affirmation, “If it is to be, it is up to me!”? Oh what an efficient way to lose your peace and squander your life. Meditation is the quest for contentment and, when performed correctly, (as a fringe benefit) could reveal the middle ground between the two toxic extremes of being scattered and being controlling. From that midpoint your choices, utterances and deeds could flow from a place of centered spontaneity, rather than from perpetual dissatisfaction: hungry and striving and relentless.
Any meditation is going to help you be present. But a practice you can do throughout the day might help you spread that around more. In dzogchen, Lama Lena recommends a long session (10-30 minutes) morning and evening, plus six short 1-2 minute mini-sessions during the day. Just every time you go to the bathroom sit down, and before you get up, straighten your channels and do a mini meditation. Then during the rest of the day just check and see if vast awareness is still there. Do that ALL the time. Takes a split second and you don't have to stop what you're doing.