💝 Making Mindfulness Meditation Work For You Part 8 – The Noble Eightfold Path – Right Mindfulness 💝
meditation·@soulsistashakti·
0.000 HBD💝 Making Mindfulness Meditation Work For You Part 8 – The Noble Eightfold Path – Right Mindfulness 💝
 Happy New Year and what a better topic to entertain on this 2nd day of 2018 than the subject of mindfulness as a term most of us have heard but do we know what it really means? Let’s backtrack a little because it is important to know that mindfulness is not just mindfulness like we hear in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programs. Mindfulness in Buddhism is very specific to the path of liberation or freedom from suffering so let’s start by remembering the Four Noble Truths: # The Four Noble Truths 1. the truth of suffering 2. the truth of the cause of suffering 3. the truth of the end of suffering 4. the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. More simply put that suffering exists and it has a cause. But that it also has an end and it has a solution to bring about its end. With this is mind we come to mindfulness as a practice and one of the elements of the path out of suffering and ultimately to enlightenment (we’ll get into that in a later essay). Mindfulness is broken down into many parts and is actually a very in depth teaching, subtle and not simple at all. Here is where I began to understand the complete and mandala like structure of Buddhist philosophy. As a matter of fact, the teaching in mindfulness alone would take several days. >Right Mindfulness is being fully present and aware of one's body, senses, thoughts, and surroundings. It is the opposite of being lost in daydreams. [Thoughtco.com]( https://www.thoughtco.com/right-concentration-450064) <div class="pull-right"><img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmcE95SUf7MUAnaC5SytygXtayhAmeujNE8hgyPdch8XHi/lionel-gustave-171881.jpg" /></div> # Awareness of things The most primary (and underlying) facet of mindfulness is awareness the environment around us, and the things we observe in it. Meaning that we have a willing attentiveness through interest in our environment to pay attention to it, and to really examine and thus appreciate what we see. This means having a general open receptivity to what we sense at the most basic level without embellishment or not merely about how things may be of use to us and just appreciating them for their independent beingness. This awareness is sometimes cultivated in art produced in the Japanese and Chinese traditions inspired by Zen. An artist may simply gaze upon an object for several hours, then having enough awareness developed, with a brush simply produce a brilliant yet plain work of art in only a few strokes, which somehow fashions what is most basic about that object. <div class="pull-left"><img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmYpT8FZLFyDTEH9YFCGjLTva3QFK38x6jXsnTPjXDfM3L/alessio-lin-236497.jpg" /></div> # Awareness of oneself This is related to awareness of the body and its movements, our feelings, and our thoughts. Awareness of the body is the most basic because without a certain amount of awareness of one’s physical essence and fluctuations in bodily states it is very hard to be mindful of one’s mind. Commonly meditators may begin a period of any kind of meditation method by cultivating awareness of the physical body: basically being aware that one is sitting, how and where one is sitting, and how it feels physically in all of the parts of the body. <div class="pull-right"><img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmTmvfPGRJod8682QFguDMavD81uy4LEXFaHbpw557Cmnm/joel-filipe-191372.jpg" /></div> # Awareness of feelings Awareness of our feelings is related to awareness of how one is feeling inside and the emotions that are arising. Meditation methods like the cultivation of loving-kindness always begin with observing of what one’s emotions actually are in the moment. It is of utmost importance to acknowledge to oneself as a starting point that feelings can come out as a stream of thoughts and/or as emotions in the body and if one may be experiencing any more intense states such as anger, disappointment, excitement or desire. If such feelings are not addressed they are most likely going to hinder whatever intentions we have for practice. Awareness of our thoughts is related to being aware of the direction that our thoughts are taking us. This being aware of the kind of thought we are having. Thoughts can signify feelings and can also reveal what kind of beliefs we have. A part of cultivating wisdom in Buddhism concerns exploring one’s beliefs to see whether or not they are actually reflecting true reality and leading us towards awakening. This is impossible if one has not first recognized what kinds of belief one holds.  # Conclusion At this juncture if you have been following alone on the series I am now veering off the secular and scientific correlations. This is not to say that I am going off into New Age territory. This means that soon we are going to see what a thing of philosophical beauty Buddhism is, to the best of my ability, and with a little help from my friends (who are smarter than me). What do you think? # Recent Posts [Creative Problem Solving Through Meditation]( https://steemit.com/meditation/@soulsistashakti/creative-problem-solving-through-meditation) [Making Mindfulness Meditation Work For You – Part 1]( https://steemit.com/meditation/@soulsistashakti/making-meditation-work-for-you-part-1) [Making Mindfulness Meditation Work For You Part 2 - The Noble Eightfold Path - Right View]( https://steemit.com/meditation/@soulsistashakti/making-mindfulness-mediation-work-for-you-part-2-the-eightfold-path-right-view) [Making Mindfulness Meditation Work For You Part 3 - The Noble Eightfold Path - Right Thought](https://steemit.com/meditation/@soulsistashakti/making-mindfulness-meditation-work-for-you-part-3-the-noble-eightfold-path-right-thought) [Making Mindfulness Meditation Work For You Part 4 - The Noble Eightfold Path - Right Speech](https://steemit.com/meditation/@soulsistashakti/making-mindfulness-meditation-work-for-you-part-4-the-noble-eightfold-path-right-speech) [Making Mindfulness Meditation Work For You Part 5 - The Noble Eightfold Path – Right Action](https://steemit.com/meditation/@soulsistashakti/making-mindfulness-meditation-work-for-you-part-5-the-noble-eightfold-path-right-action) [Making Mindfulness Meditation Work For You Part 6 - The Noble Eightfold Path – Right Livelihood]( https://steemit.com/meditation/@soulsistashakti/making-mindfulness-meditation-work-for-you-part-6-the-noble-eightfold-path-right-livelihood) [Making Mindfulness Meditation Work For You Part 7 - The Noble Eightfold Path – Right Effort](https://steemit.com/meditation/@soulsistashakti/making-mindfulness-meditation-work-for-you-part-7-the-noble-eightfold-path-right-effort)  @soulsistashakti is a musical artist and writer based in NYC as well as a practitioner of Buddhist teachings. You can check out my music on my FB artist page at https://www.facebook.com/soulsistashakti