Two items grabbed my attention in quick succession, prompting today’s Daily Reminder.
The first was a question from a subscriber, who asked,
“What’s the difference between the 3 Principles and Mindfulness? There seem to be a lot of parallels to me.”
…and then almost as a ready made answer, along came someone on LinkedIn, commenting on a post about presence, insinuating that,
Yeah… but it takes practice.
And I thought, Whoa, hang on.
Isn’t that what keeps everybody stuck? The belief that “being more present” takes effort; that it’s to be worked at?
Let me ask you, for instance: Do you like the idea of having to work hard at something? Putting the hours in so that you can achieve some sort of repetitive future goal, around being awake to life?
No, me neither!
When I got back to our dear subscriber, I mused that maybe this was the difference:
Whereas, generally, we associate mindfulness with ‘trying’ to be more present. For me, that ‘trying’ element is an intellectual thing. It looks like there’s something we have to do with the thoughts we observe (which includes ‘observing’ them in the first place!) … all of which only makes sense to do if we see thought as problematic to start with.
Where’s the problem? It’s just thought! 🤷🏻♂️
For me, the key difference is to see that you can’t not be present, as is beautifully described by Leo Hartong, in one of my favourite books, Awakening to the Dream:
“You may make a great effort to be fully here and now, but even if you wanted to, could you be anywhere else? Even when you take your mind for a walk down memory lane, get caught up in fantasies, or anticipate some future event, you are here and now.
“Ask yourself how many steps it takes to get to where you are? How much time does it take to arrive at this moment? How much effort is required to be what you already are?”
Maybe there’s a reason they call it the great no-thing.
💟
Giles
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Giles P Croft