In Buddhist teachings, the Third Foundation of Mindfulness is Mindfulness of Mind. We tend to exist in various “afflicted states” such as anxiety, fear and dread, and to associate ourselves with those states of mind.
We say things like, “I am an anxious person” or even “I am a happy person.”
In Buddhism it’s important to recognize that, as a person, we can exist in a state of mind without considering that particular state of mind to be a definition of who we really are.
After all, we have a soul that underlies our mind state and exists beyond it.
This is particular helpful to keep in mind as we find ourselves beset my negative mind states.
For instance, it’s a wholesome practice to distance ourselves from the concept of being an “unhappy person.”
It can also be a very effective tool to start to notice the moments when we aren’t residing in our identified mind states: those wonderful glimpses of peace, calm, joy or equanimity.
They may be brief and rare, but they give us insight into what is possible.
We all have preferences about where we’d like our minds to reside. We may have great resistance or aversion to where they in fact are in this moment.
In other words, we all have a relationship to the tendencies of our mind.
The practice of insight meditation is about cultivating a disengagement from identifying with our mind states.
Mindfulness is bare attention, devoid of the analysis we so love to apply to it.
Author : Joslyn Hamilton
Source : www.examiner.com
