Dharmette: Contexts for Mindfulness

When I came into the meditation hall just now and saw you sitting so still and quiet, I appreciated very much the context that you were creating here.

That if I came in here, into the quiet, into the stillness, into the sense of intentionality around practice that I felt here, it had an effect on me that was good.

That would be very different if this was Grand Central Station at commute times and I'd walked in here and people walking and yelling and busy and in a hurry and, you know,

just

pushing each other aside.

It's a very different context.

There's a context here that we've created.

And so it's useful in our life to consider that there are maybe kind of two things.

There's what's happening to you, what's going on for you, and the context in which it's happening.

And is the context the one that's most supportive for you, most helpful for you? Are there other contexts that might be helpful? Some of you maybe find the context of meditating in a group like this very supportive.

And, you know, you could have gone to Costco today, this morning instead.

You know, even better, Ikea.

And they had chairs there.

You probably could have sat in some of those chairs for a while and meditated.

But the effect might be very different on you where you are.

So that context.

So that's an external context.

But there's also an internal context.

There's what's happening for you.

And we say, kind of an emphasis we have in this practice is to hold everything in awareness.

Whatever's happening, you don't have to fight it or change it, but practice with it, breathe with it, be with it.

And what we're doing there is offering a particular context for it that's different than if you weren't practicing with that.

It might be you might be believing it or you might be hating it or reactive to it.

you're offering a different context for what's here.

And so are there different contexts that you can contribute? You're not trying to get rid of anything.