Mindfulness Meditation (For Everyday Life)

concentration, everything else falls away - including
thoughts, feelings, the outside world. Samadhi is
characterized by absorption in stillness and
undisturbed peacefulness. A taste of this stillness can
be attractive, even intoxicating. One naturally finds
oneself seeking this peacefulness and the simplicity
of a state characterized by absorption and bliss.
But concentration practice, however strong and
satisfying, is incomplete without mindfulness to
complement and deepen it. By itself, it resembles a
state of withdrawal from the world. Its characteristic
energy is closed rather than open, absorbed rather
than available, trancelike rather than fully awake.
What is missing is the energy of curiosity, inquiry,
investigation, openness, availability, engagement with
the full range of phenomena experienced by human
beings. This is the domain of mindfulness practice, in
which onepointedness and the ability to bring
calmness and stability of mind to the present moment
are put in the service of looking deeply into and
understanding the interconnectedness of a wide
range of life experiences.
Concentration can be of great value, but it can also
be seriously limiting if you become seduced by the
pleasant quality of this inner experience and come to
see it as a refuge from life in an unpleasant and