Although  joking about rape will not necessarily cause people to go out and commit the crime, it desensitizes them to an act that should be greeted with disgust and revulsion at all times, even in a rowdy and boisterous setting.  Just as being drunk is not an excuse to commit a heinous crime, alcohol is no excuse to joke about categorically evil acts.

Although I’m no psychoanalyst, I think to trivialize a morally objectionable act by joking about it at least partly reflects a subconscious penchant for the act.  Joking about rape, for example, reveals one’s misogynistic side. Similarly, making fun of someone suffering from AIDS reflects one’s lack of respect for life.

I understand that when guys get together they tend to talk about women, sometimes not in the most respectful ways.  However, we should draw the line somewhere and not allow these unbecoming thoughts from getting out of hand.  Just as good, healthy thoughts  lead to good acts,  so could bad ones.

One thing that we need to understand about corruption is that it is a major cause of poverty and a barrier to overcoming it.  So, it shouldn’t be surprising that the poorest countries in the world are also the most corrupt. Corruption fosters ill-will and resentment and is a major obstacle to social harmony.

Another thing about corruption is that it is easy to blame others who we see as “corrupt,” but it is not so easy to see how our own actions and behaviors contribute to the corrupt system. Okay, so maybe you don’t drive a Rolls Royce or live in a huge mansion while your countrymen are rummaging through garbage for food.  You’re not corrupt, right? Wrong.  That live-in maid you hired for $50 a month would not be working for such menial pay if she was not so poor and desperate.  Corruption promotes poverty and cheap labor.  Even when we don’t see ourselves as “corrupt,” we still benefit  from corruption when we enjoy luxuries associated with social and economic exploitation.

Perhaps it helps to consider the broader definition of corruption. To be “corrupt” means to lack integrity or wholesomeness.  So any action that lacks wholesomeness and integrity can be said to be corrupt.  So, one does not need to accept bribery or steal public funds to be corrupt. We have to realize that no one is immune to corruption as long as we live in a system that is corrupt.  Further, no country is absolutely free of corruption.  You might be surprised to learn that the United States ranks only 22nd on the Corruption Perceptions Index.  Rather than pointing fingers at others, it is more productive to be mindful of our own actions, to understand how they play into the system, and hopefully to adjust them so as to mitigate their harmful impacts.

No one can be perfect. Sometimes, it may not be possible to avoid contributing to corruption without being a social outcast.  As long as we do our parts to monitor our own actions and to do the things that will lead to good will, mutual prosperity, and social harmony, that is the best we can do.  Corruption will eventually go away on its own.

Of course, it’s always good to have laws against corruption, but if no one follows them, what good are the laws?  Cambodia is not corrupt because of the lack of anti-corruption laws, but because of the lack of respect for the laws. Ethics is just important as legislation. The development of good moral and social ethics is key to respect for the law, and thereby, the rule of law.

The worst way to deal with corruption, I believe, is to point fingers at those who we perceive as “corrupt”  and deny our own roles in the corrupt system and our responsibility in overcoming it.  It takes a conscious and concerted effort by everyone in society to defeat corruption.  Obviously, if you’re at the very bottom rung of the social ladder, you have very little social, political, and economic clout– there is not a whole lot you can do to end corruption.  However, it is always a good idea to maintain a healthy and positive attitude and to focus on the things that will lead to personal prosperity and social harmony.  If you choose to become bitter and resentful, on the other hand, you’re really empowering corruption and thereby contributing to it.

Personally, I don’t care what others have or don’t have and focus on my own life.  I try to keep inventory of my actions and to identify which ones are positive and which one are negative.  While it’s not possible to avoid negative, harmful actions altogether, it’s good practice to keep tab of them.  Just like balancing a check book, this helps me stay in the positive and not slip into the red. While it may not be possible to take the world upon our shoulders, it shouldn’t be that hard to balance a checkbook.

I think so.

Throughout my life I’ve helped a lot of people. Yet, of all these people I could recall no more than three or four  who successfully had been helped by me. Actually, I can’t take credit for these three or four people at all because, in retrospect, I did not do very much to help them. I simply provided a spark and they did all the work for themselves.

It’s really not possible to help an able-bodied person who is unwilling to help himself. To be sure, there are those who cannot help themselves and legitimately need the help of others. These include infants, children, the disabled, and the elderly. These people belong in a different category; I’ll limit this discussion to those people who can walk, talk and use their heads and hands like the rest of us.

As the saying goes, you must help yourself before helping others. In fact, helping oneself is the first step to helping others because being self-sufficient means you won’t be a burden to others, including (and especially) your loved ones. If everyone is willing and able to help himself or herself, then no one should be dependent upon others. So, focus on pulling your own weight.  If you can pull your own weight, you’ve already done your part.

What happens when you try to help someone who is unwilling to help himself? He becomes lazy and dependent. He does not bother to develop the necessary skills and personal qualities to make it on his own. You are creating an artificial disability in an otherwise able-bodied person, eventually enslaving yourself to his dependency and ill-conceived sense of entitlement. However well-intentioned you may be, this is not helping at all.

What does it mean to help yourself? Helping yourself means getting an education, securing a good job, taking advantage of opportunities, and providing for your family. It also means taking good care of your health, planning ahead, and constantly doing “what if” exercises in your head so that you do not become a burden to others in the future.

What does it mean to take advantage of an opportunity? Here in Cambodia there are so many people in desperate situations because they do not have the opportunities to improve their lives.  If you offer assistance to ten needy people, maybe one or two of them will take advantage of the opportunity you give them in a healthy and constructive way.  The rest will try to take advantage of you!  To get to the one or two worthy people, you may have to deal with a lot of leeches and parasites along the way.  This is true of people in any country, not just Cambodia. A person who is really serious about helping himself will  take advantage of the opportunity he gets, not the people who give it to him.

If the first step to helping others is to help oneself, I think the next step is to avoid hurting others while helping oneself. Actually, these really aren’t steps to be followed in chronological succession; they are to be carried out simultaneously. Some folks end up with huge fortunes after making a life of unfair and exploitative business practices. One day they wake up and decide to give much of their wealth to charity. Although giving to charity is better than not giving, all the donations they “give back to the community” may not be enough to compensate for the sufferings they’ve caused along the way. So, it’s better to be mindful of one’s actions (so as not to hurt others) than to mindlessly gain at others’ expenses and give back after all the destruction has been wreaked.

People differ widely in their ability to tolerate frustration. We all get angry from time to time. Our surroundings, associations, occupations, and other external factors all play a role in how often we get angry.  Anger does not make us evil; it makes us human. Nonetheless, it is important to understand that anger is a destructive emotion that compromises our ability to handle heated situations effectively and to find a long-term solution to combative atmosphere.

One way people deal with anger is to express it.  There is a popular belief that anger must be vented or it will build up like steam in a pressure cooker.  Screaming, shouting, door slamming, and even physical aggression are some ways people express their anger. Venting our anger may help to dissipate it, but we often feel worse when we lose our temper.  Our anger tends to intensify when as we vent it– a mild irritation may snowball into full-fledged rage. The habitual expression of anger also conditions us to similar responses in the future. Even a seemingly benign act such as hitting a pillow conditions us to act out our anger in the future.  Soon we will come to see losing our temper as an acceptable way to deal with frustration.

Another way to deal with anger is to suppress it.  We may suppress our anger because there is something more important at stake, or because we do not want to be seen as hot-tempered in the presence of others. Anger suppression is an act of sheer will.  Suppressing anger may contain it for a while but will not make it disappear altogether. Instead, it gets transformed into hatred, animosity and vengeance.  The buildup of negative emotions contributes a poor mental quality and may limit our capacity to suppress anger in future provocations.  Then suppression is merely a postponement of expression.

A better alternative to both expression and suppression of anger is to treat it mindfully– that is, to understand the true nature of our anger, mentally distance ourselves from our own emotion,  and finally take constructive steps to correct the conditions and circumstances responsible for the destructive emotion. A clear comprehension of our anger is essential to the transformation of the negative emotion into constructive attitude and conduct.,

When anger arises, it’s best to view it as a temporary physical discomfort. From a Buddhist perspective, anger is merely a hindrance to enlightenment.  Anger is a transitory emotion, just like euphoria. Seen as simply a matter of physical inconvenience, anger becomes something that can be overcome with mental skill.

When someone makes us angry, we must first realize that the anger is our own problem.  This is not to say that we have not been wronged in any way.  When we become angry, it’s natural to feel that have been treated unjustly and to seek some kind of retribution against whatever that is causing our anger.  However, we must realize that the destructive emotion is present within us, not within that person.  Therefore, the best course of action would be to deal with our own anger before dealing with that person.   If someone were to stab us with a knife, it would make sense to attend to our wound before seeking justice against the aggressor.  Anger is a wound to our emotional well being, so we must attend to it before anything else.

People often tell us  “Don’t take it personally”  as they proceed to insult us anyway.  They are correct in the sense that their words wield no power over us unless we take them personally.  Often, we harbor a sense of insecurity about some aspects of ourselves (“I am unattractive”, “I am stupid”, “I am a failure”, etc.).  We look for and feel hurt by critical remarks about our perceived personal shortcomings. We then project our anger on the person who points out these flaws.

Anger is a complex emotion involving unpleasant physical symptoms, such as muscle tensions, head buzzing, and heart pounding,  and psychological components, including hostility, fear, insecurity, and upsetting memories. The first step to dealing with the anger within us is to mindfully isolate the raw physical symptoms from the psychological elements.  Here it may be helpful to think of anger as an onion consisting of a core of physical symptoms surrounded by layers of psychological elements.  If we peel away all the layers of hostility, hatred, fear, bias, anxiety and other mental manifestations of anger, what we have left are the physical discomforts of being angry.  If we really think about it, the unpleasant sensations of tightening muscles, stomach knots, and so forth are not more unpleasant than a bad headache or toothache.

During anger there is often an overwhelming propensity for the mind to attach to upsetting thoughts.  However, if we are to attempt to calm our anger rather than let it spiral out of control, we must at least recognize that such attachment is unhelpful.  At the onset of anger, identify the physical symptoms that are present in your body, without attaching any meaning to them.   Is your heart pounding?  Is there a knot forming in your stomach?  Are your fists clenching?  Is your chest tightening? Does your head buzz? Do you feel tensions in your facial muscles?

Then take a deep breath and turn your attention to one of the physical symptoms.  Work with one symptom at a time.  It does not matter which one you start with– I suggest the one you find most discomforting. You might start with the tensions in your face. Turn your attention to your facial muscles.  How does your face feel in the presence of the tensions?  How would it feel without them?  Accept their presence.  Open yourself to it and embrace it as part of yourself (after all, it is).  Without analyzing or interpreting the sensations, mindfully investigate the nature of the sensations.  Watch their moment-to-moment changes in your face.  Of course, you are better off without these sensations and eventually, you wish to be free from them.  But try not to resist them in any way, for resistance only prolongs the discomfort.  Breathe in and out mindfully, and enjoy the soothing sensations of breath. Feel the tensions gradually dissipating with every out-breath.  Don’t just imagine; actually feel the tensions melting away you breathe in and out.  Hold your attention on your breathing and your facial tensions. If your mind wanders away, gently bring it back with mindful breathing.  Have patience. Take as long as you need. Use your breath to tether your mind to the physical discomfort in your face.  Done diligently, this exercise will help soothe the tensions and prevent your mind from attaching to unpleasant thoughts and memories.

Once your facial tensions are gone, work on the next symptom, such as the knot forming in your stomach.  Trace the knot to its exact location in the stomach. Meditate on it as you had on your face. Feel the knot loosening gradually with every inhalation and exhalation.  Take as long as you need to loosen the knot.  Work on each symptom until all symptoms are gone.

Naturally, upsetting memories and thoughts will arise. Acknowledge them but do not get involved in them. Simply let these thoughts come and go, holding your focus on just the physical sensations. When your attention strays away from the sensations, breathe mindfully to bring your mind back to them. Remind yourself that just like all things in life, these transitory unpleasant feelings will soon pass. You are not deluding yourself, merely telling yourself an obvious truth. When the mind in this troubled state, it needs to be told even the obvious truth. But do it in a gentle way. When the mind is in the precarious state of anger, it should be nursed back to health with tenderness and compassion.

Some negative thoughts are so overwhelming that you cannot keep your mind away from them for very long.  Instead of giving into the hostility, try to think about the positives.  In every situation, however unpleasant, has a redeeming quality.  Make an effort to counter hostility and ill will with constructive thoughts.  Then bring your attention back to your breath and physical symptoms.

Here we are able to mindfully isolate the raw sensations of being angry from the psychological components of anger. The ordinary, conditioned experience of anger is the constant complex but erratic association of the physical sensations with destructive mental thought patterns.  The mind has a tendency to attach itself to thoughts and memories; this is especially true when we are in a bad mood. This tends to amplify the hostility and promote an overreaction. By mindfully attending to the physical discomfort and mental components of anger as separate phenomena arising within us, we are able to depersonalize the whole experience and view from an impersonal vantage point. This detachment allows us to nurture our anger with compose and reason. When seeking help for a wound, it helps to see a doctor who is not wounded herself.  If anger is the wound, mindfulness is the doctor.

This exercise allows us to calm down and handle the situation more intelligently. By breaking down anger into a series of physiological sensations, we effectively depersonalize  it and methodically treat it as a physiological condition.   Distancing ourselves from our own anger enables us to focus on just the raw sensations, to work on them one by one until all symptoms of anger are removed.

DISCLAIMER:

I’m not a psychotherapist or health professional.  I make no claims or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information contained herein and will not accept any responsibility  for its use or misuse.

We must never confuse mindful driving with sitting meditation. In sitting meditation we attempt to reduce sensory input by focusing our attention on a specific meditation object, such as our breath.  In mindful driving we do not want to enter a deep meditative trance that may limit our field of vision and compromise our ability to react quickly in emergency situations.  What we want to achieve in mindful driving is a heightened state of alertness in which awareness is directed simultaneously at all the perceptions and physical actions necessary for safe driving. If you find that you’re spacing out as you drive, then you’re not driving mindfully.

Mindful driving is defensive driving in that everything we do is intended to maintain a wide margin of error.  It may be helpful to visualize your vehicle as a physical extension of yourself, and any harm to your vehicle may bring harm to yourself and others.   Your car is simultaneously our tool of transportation, a protective armor against the elements, and a potentially deadly weapon.  In mindful driving, we are more attentive to our position and speed relative to those of other vehicles on the road, so that we can maintain a safe distance from them.

Just like mindful anything else, mindful driving entails keeping our awareness in the present moment.  By staying in the present moment and being more attentive to our changing environment, we are better prepared to deal with circumstances as they present themselves.

Apart from increasing safety, mindful driving also enriches the quality of time we spend driving.  Whenever we step into a car, we usually are concerned with only the expectation of arriving somewhere.  Seen merely as a means to a desired outcome, driving becomes a mindless chore that takes away from our precious time.  When our attention is fixed on the destination, anything that impedes our progress, such as a traffic jam, a pothole, or another driver, has the potential to trigger anger, frustration, and hostility within us.

When we drive mindfully, on the other hand, driving is just as important as getting somewhere.  We accept potholes and rude drivers as the inescapable conditions of driving and are less like to become frustrated by them.  Every stoplight or traffic jam presents an opportunity to catch up on our breathing and bring our awareness back to our bodies. It may be helpful to check the side and rearview mirrors once in a while to maintain an all-around awareness.  Awareness of the rapidly environment actually amplies our awareness of our own bodies. If the traffic is too fast to stay in the present, try shifting to the slower lane.

While driving, silence is our ally.  It may help to turn off the radio and to limit conversation with other occupants. Removing these distractions would lighten the burden on our attention, allowing us to allocate more of it to productive perceptions, such as those related to our personal well being.  Take notice of any bodily tensions or negative emotions that may develop in your body.  Trace these feelings of discomfort to their sources.  If you feel irritated that another car just cut in front you, where in your body does the sensation originate?  Even though your natural response would be to feel indignation, you must realize that the destructive emotion is your problem, not the other driver’s.  It does not make sense to compound the discourteous act of another driver by taking it personally.

All  of us have had our shares of successes and failures in life.   Still, we sometimes awaken to despair and even panic that so many of your years have managed to slip away virtually unnoticed. We may blame our hectic lifestyles and the demands of work and family.

The truth is, if we don’t dwell in every tiny moment that makes up our reality, our whole lives will have passed uneventfully. Every moment in our lives is immensely sacred in its own right. To awaken to the present moment is to experience the sanctity of being alive.

We may consider getting married and giving birth to a child as exceptionally significant moments in our lives. In fact, they are. However, if we give value to only a handful of memorable moments in our lives, the countless other moments that make up our existence will have seemed pointless.

If birthdays, anniversaries, travels to exotic destinations, and other important events in our lives can have so much meaning for us, then why not the present moment? The present moment is the only moment in which we are truly alive. This is not to say that we should not celebrate our birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and other major milestones in our lives. It’s  just that every moment has an intrinsic value in itself.

Attention is what gives meaning and significance to everything. By attending to every moment in our lives with great care and diligence, we render it as special as our wedding or birthday.

In reality, the mind and body are inseparable and, to a large extent, indistinguishable from each other. We normally think of the body as the physical, tangible “stuff” of which we are made, and the mind as the nonphysical faculty of consciousness, perception, thought, emotion, and memory. In reality, every thought or emotion arises from an electro-chemical change in the brain or nervous system. That is, every mental event is made possible by a physical event involving bodily components– without the body, there can be no mind. Vice versa, the mind contains the cosmos of information that directs every aspect of the complex biological machinery that is the body– without a mind, there can be no body.

In fact even an inanimate object, such as a rock or kitchen table, needs some sort of “mind” to exist. We normally think of a kitchen table as a lifeless, mindless physical body. However, the atoms of the table are held together by the same electrostatic forces that hold the atoms of our bodies together. These electrostatic interactions are not random; they follow certain patterns that ultimately impart structural integrity to the table. We may call the body of information that is responsible for the table’s shape and form its “mind”. Granted, the “mind” of a table is far less complex than that of a human being. But without the nonphysical organizing intelligence that makes a table a table, there can be no table.

There is a quality of “oneness” about  mind and body.  That is not to say that the mind and body are identical and synonymous.  By “oneness” we mean that the mind and body are merely two aspects of the same reality. In a similar manner that light exhibits both particle-like (physical) and wave-like (nonphysical) qualities, human beings exhibit both body (physical) and mind (nonphysical) qualities. Thus, mind and body come from the same source and are different expressions of the same reality. The mind-body duality, the root of many of our persistent struggles, is largely an artificial separation that arises from conditioned ignorance of one’s true nature.

The oneness of mind and body may be better appreciated through the cultivation of body awareness. Like the breath, the body is an obvious object of attention. Our bodies are always available to us; we just have to remember to be aware of them. The mind has a tendency to wander away from the body as it attaches to thoughts, feelings and impulses. Mindfulness tethers the mind to the body, keeping the mind from straying too far. When we sit, we should be mindful of our posture and general mental state. When we walk, we should be aware of the movements of our limbs and of being present in our bodies as we walk. In anything we do, we should make a point to deliberately inhabit our bodies and have a sense of bodiness as we do it.

Unless our minds and bodies are linked together in this way, we have no reliable frame of reference from which to perceive reality as it unfolds in the present moment. Our present state of being is ordinarily defined by our current mental preoccupation– we are what our minds are doing at the moment. When I am thinking, I am thought itself. When I am remembering, I am memory itself. When I am angry, I am anger itself. While my mind is preoccupied with thinking, remembering, and feeling angry, there is one aspect of me that gets shoved into the background: my AMness. My amness is who I really am. It lends my presence to my mental processes. The mind has a tendency to become so consumed by a mental preoccupation that it forgets who is doing the mentation. The goal of mindfulness is not to suppress thoughts and feelings, but to bring the amness back into the forefront of consciousness. When I am thinking mindfully, I am not merely my thoughts– I really am thinking. Mindfulness connects the mind to the body as we think, endowing our mental activity with our Presence.

Tethering the mind to the body leads to expanded awareness. It may seem counter-intuitive to speak of expanding awareness in terms of restricting the mind’s freedom. However, we must not confuse expanded awareness with mental hyperactivity. Expanded awareness is the sublime quality of being alive. The only way to be alive is to become one with that which is living. The body is a living reality. By consciously anchoring our minds to our living bodies, we become more alive. Mindfulness is the practice of vitality.

To deliberately inhabit the body is to make it our home, our habitat. The living body is the true home for the mind. Warmth, comfort, security, and tranquility are the qualities that we associate with home. It’s no wonder that these are the same qualities that we experience when we are mindful. Through this process of homecoming, we appreciate the wholeness that is the source of all dualities and separations.

A person’s lifetime, no matter how short or long, is made up of an infinite number of smaller moments. A single day is made up of an infinite number of smaller moments. Even a single second is made up of an infinite number of smaller moments.

If we are able to dwell in the infinitesimally small moments that make up every second of our realities, then we can experience infinity itself. Time would seem to stand still. This is why we often experience timelessness during meditation.

Mindfulness is the art of arriving at the present moment. By inhabiting our bodies, accepting all things that are happening both inside and outside of us, without resisting, we arrive at the present moment. We can say to ourselves, “This is it, I am here.”

Mindfulness is the quality of being here now. Being here now means dwelling in the present moment and actively participating in the unfolding of our own reality. When we actively inhabit our bodies and attune our awareness to the here and now, we dwell in the eternal stillness that is this moment.

We may think of contentment in terms of earning an advanced degree, making a lot of money, driving an expensive car, and winning approval from family and friends. But these are just motivations for striving, not contentment itself. When we reach a new milestone in our career, we may be happy for a while, but our feelings of contentment are quickly replaced by a more powerful desire to reach the next target. Life then becomes a state of constant grasping, always reaching for something onto which we cannot hold.

When we strive mindfully, we strive with the mind already content in itself. That’s it. Contentment does not depend on the fruits of our labor; it depends only on the mind being at peace with itself– with or without the fruits. If the mind is already content in itself, then no additional conditions, such as wealth, status, and promotion, are necessary for happiness.

The question then arises, why should we strive in the first place? If true happiness and contentment have nothing to do with accomplishing anything, why should we even bother trying at all?

We strive to co-exist with the conditions and circumstances to which we are bound. Most of us choose to live in a world of attachments and material comfort, so we must be able to meet the challenges of secular life. If we are to function effectively in society, we must accept the roles and responsibilities that are expected of us. If there is a certain need or lacking in our lives, material or otherwise, we must address it right away, so that it does not become a source of frustration and unhappiness for us. Economic prosperity is not the enemy of spiritual development– certainly not in a society that values excess of all kinds. Money can benefit our health, our sense of security, and even our happiness if we know how to go about it the right way.

When we pursue our goals mindfully, we don’t necessarily lower our standards or become less motivated. While mindful striving may not guarantee success, it does bring meaning and purpose to our pursuits. Our happiness no longer hinges on the outcome of our efforts. Attachment to the outcome denies us the opportunity to live in the present and fosters uncertainty, anxiety, stress, and self-doubt. Mindfulness enables us to shift our focus away from preoccupation with the outcome toward the process of our work. We then realize that success can be savored only in the present moment, while we’re working, not in the distant future. With mindfulness, our endeavor takes on a spiritual dimension as we awaken to the clear meaning and clear purpose of our work. Work is no longer a means to an end, but the very expression of our True Essence.

If we were lost in the woods and came across a small muddy puddle of water, we would be wise to wait patiently until the mud settles before drinking from it. To still the mind also requires patience. In the same way that agitating a puddle of water with a stick makes it muddy, we muddle our minds by getting caught up in our thoughts. Getting involved in thoughts saps our energy and contributes to the restless chatter in our heads. If we can gain some degree of detachment from our mental phenomena, our thoughts and feelings will come and go without taking hold of our minds. The mind then calms on its own.

Stillness implies a state of being rather than one of doing. Most of the time our minds are busy doing something, such as processing thoughts, memories, emotional impulses, and so on. All too often we get so consumed by our mental preoccupations that we are not aware of much else. Mindfulness does not mean that we should suppress our thoughts and feelings in any way– just that we should be aware of them as they arise. When we’re thinking, we should be aware that we’re thinking; when we’re remembering, we should be aware that we’re remembering; when we’re feeling upset, we should be aware that we’re feeling upset. By keeping watch on our mental contents, we subtly shift our attention away from our mental doings toward the vast, sacred silence that is our inner being. When our awareness is centered on inner being, we become more human, more alive. After all, we are human beings, not human automatons.

Stillness is the essence of infinite happiness and lasting contentment. Some people travel to exotic destinations to look for happiness and excitement. The sheer strangeness and wonder of the new place may shock their senses into the excitement they seek. But this temporary excitement should not to be mistaken for true, lasting happiness. True happiness does not require us to travel to a beautiful tropical island half the world away. It is here now. Finding it is just a matter of waking up to the present moment.

This awakening requires that the mind be still. When the mind is still, it has no interest in grasping to things– it is content in itself. Being content in itself means nothing else has to happen (i.e., we need not book a trip to some exotic island). Arriving at the present moment is the direct path to true happiness and contentment.

Clearing the mind does not leave us with an empty head, but one brimming with awareness. This expanded awareness is the capacity for clear seeing and clear thinking not possible with a cluttered mind. We gain communion with the inner stillness from which all diversity is born. If we do not have clear comprehension of this sacred stillness, but instead attempt to grapple with its 1001 expressions, life may seem too complex and chaotic to make any sense to us.

Stillness is a spiritual reality, not a concept to dissect intellectually. We often liken spirituality to a path. A path implies traversing space and time. Yet, if we follow a spiritual path diligently, all that it can take us to is the here and now. That is, the goal of a spiritual quest is to arrive at where we are now. Spirituality is not so much about traveling through space and time as it about gaining clear comprehension of them. Spirituality is both the journey and the goal, and when we succeed, we awaken to our True Essence.