The Practicing Mind

We have a very unhealthy habit of making the product — our intended result — the goal, instead of the process of reaching that goal. When we practice something, we are involved in the deliberate repetition of a process with the intention of reaching a specific goal.

When you focus your mind on the present moment, on the process of what you are doing right now, you are always where you want to be and where you should be. In order to focus on the present, we must give up, at least temporarily, our attachment to our desired goal.

Be Process-oriented, rather than being result-oriented.

Most of the anxiety we experience in life comes from our feeling that there is an end point of perfection in everything that we involve ourselves with. 

We consciously or unconsciously pick a point of reference in whatever we do and decide that nothing will be right until we get to that point. By doing this, you are only working against yourself.

True perfection is limitless, unbounded, and always expanding.

At any point when you are feeling bored, rushed, or impatient, realise that you have left the present moment in your activity.

The next time you feel like not doing anything, tell yourself you will work on staying present-moment and Process-oriented for just the first half hour.

Don't try to enjoy it either, because in that effort you are bringing emotions and struggle into your effort.

What we practice will become a habit.

When we say something is a habit, it means that it is natural way we do something. We do it intuitively, without having to think about it.

Being aware that all your motions, be they physical or mental, are habits and that you have the power to choose which habits you will create is very liberating. You are in control.

Habits are learned. Choose them wisely.

If you force your mind to stay in the present moment and to stay in the process of what you are doing, many of your problems will melt away.

Staying in the present in the process is the first part of the perspective change that creates patience.

The second step in creating patience is understanding and accepting that there is no such thing as reaching a point of perfection in anything.

There is no goal to reach other than pursuing the activity.

The four “S” words are Simplify, Small, Short, and Slow.

Simplify

When you work at a specific project or activity, simplify it by breaking it down into its component sections. Don't set goals that are too far beyond your reach.

Small

Focusing on small sections is easier than focusing on the entire task and gives you repeatable success.

Short

Focus only for a short period of time.

Slow

Incorporating slowness into your process is a paradox. Work at a pace that allows you to pay attention to what you are doing.

Equanimity is defined as even-temperedness and calmness. It comes from the art of non judgment. Non judgment quiets the internal dialogue of our mind.

Judgments are necessary for us to function in life, but they have a downside : They are not executed with a detached nature. The more closely you become aligned with the quiet observer, the less you judge.

The ego is subjective. It judges everything, including itself, and it is never content with where it is, what it has, or what it has accomplished.

The observer is objective. It does not judge anything as good or bad. It just sees the circumstance or action as “being”.

Thus the observer is always experiencing tranquility and equanimity.

None of us learn anything except through our own direct experiences

Teach with your actions.

Children have much more to offer because we can learn from them if we listen to ourselves as we teach them.

Wisdom is not a by-product of age. Teach and learn from all those around you

With deliberate and repeated effort, progress is inevitable.

When we make staying focused on the process our real goal, we experience a sense of success in every moment.

Houses, cars, jobs come and go; you, however, are eternal.

Take time regularly to review all the things that you have acquired in your life.

All things of lasting and deep value require time and nurturing and come to us only through our own effort.