I love this quote by Pema Chodron!

Are you really ready to let go?

"Working intimately with a teacher is the same as learning to stop shielding ourselves from the completely uncertain nature of reality. All the ways that we hold back and shut down, all the ways that we cling and grasp, all our habitual ways of limiting and solidifying our world become very clear to us, and it's unnerving. At that painful point, we usually want to make the teacher wrong or make ourselves wrong or do anything that is habitual and comforting to get ground back under our feet. But when we make an unconditional commitment to hang in there, we do not run away from the pain of seeing ourselves—and this is a revolutionary thing to do and it transforms us. But how many of us are ready for this? One has to gradually develop the trust that it is ultimately liberating to let go of strongly held assumptions about reality."

–Pema Chodron, from "Unconditionally Steadfast: An Interview with Pema Chodron," Tricycle, Fall 1999

What is Mindfulness?

The practice of mindfulness is an important tool for awakening that is included in the Eightfold Path, from Buddha's first teaching. The word mindfulness is the translation for "Sati" in Pali. However, sometimes translations can mislead us from the original intent. For instance, when I first heard about mindfulness and started to try to practice it, it felt more like I was monitoring—mindfulness seemed to take on a sense of judging, comparing: “Am I doing it right?”, "I wish I wasn't having negative thoughts!" "Is everyone else doing it better than me?", etc. But Pema Chodron prefers the translation of Sati as “compassionate attention", where we are applying attention to our thoughts and emotions and feelings, but also having a kind attitude towards ourselves and others. Compassionate attention seems to better describe the gentleness we need to have with ourselves and others in order to stay present. Sometimes, the judgment that arises when we realize what we are really thinking or feeling can cause us to shut down, to deny, to ignore, and yet recognizing when we are shutting down is also a vital part of the process. So, the good news is that we can't get it wrong, as long as we keep trying.

Whether shutting down or opening up, we can see more clearly how we are interacting with ourselves and the world around us. We can recognize that we can choose to live compassionately and with great joy, regardless of our past, regardless of anything happening in our lives right now, regardless of what we think the future will bring. We can choose using compassionate attention.

From Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English

"Discipline is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you're wrong. But self-discipline is different. It's the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It's all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. Look within and watch the stuff coming up--restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain--just watch it come up and know when you’re hooked. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience."