Mindfulness Meditation (For Everyday Life)

won't last, that other people might hurt me, that I
won't get my way, that only I know anything, that I'm
the only one who doesn't know anything. We tend to
see things through tinted glasses: through the lens of
whether something is good for me or bad for me, or
whether or not it conforms to my beliefs or
philosophy. If it is good, I like it. If it is bad, I don't like
it. If it is neither, I have no feelings about it one way
or the other, and may hardly notice it at all.
When you dwell in stillness, the judging mind can
come through like a foghorn. I don't like the pain in
my knee .... This is boring. ... I like this feeling of
stillness; I had a good meditation yesterday, but
today I'm having a bad meditation. ... It's not working
for me. I'm no good at this. I'm no good, period. This
type of thinking dominates the mind and weighs it
down. It's like carrying around a suitcase full of rocks
on your head. It feels good to put it down. Imagine
how it might feel to suspend all your judging and
instead to let each moment be just as it is, without
attempting to evaluate it as "good" or "bad." This
would be a true stillness, a true liberation.
Meditation means cultivating a non-judging attitude
toward what comes up in the mind, come what may.
Without it, you are not practicing meditation. That
doesn't mean judging won't be going on. Of course it