- Read Jack Kornfield’s essay “The Heart’s Intention.” Afterwards, if it feels right, journal about your own intentions: for this day, for this week, for your life.
- What is your intention for your mindfulness practice going forward? This, too, is something you might want to journal about. It can be helpful to reflect on your particular experiences, bringing to mind specific classes or sitting sessions. Did your emotional state or felt sense of being change from the beginning to the end? Have their been times you have been aware of the practice affecting an interaction or response? Do you feel ready to set an intention toward cultivating or recommitting to a regular practice of meditation, with a time and place to meditate on a regular basis?
- Henry David Thoreau wrote “Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed had been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me you have a seed there, and I’m prepared to expect wonders.” You might ask yourself, in meditation or in journaling: What seeds are you planting? What seeds are you watering?
- Read “Kiss the Moment” by Frank Ostaseki, the cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project and author of The Five Invitations. This little piece is a lovely capstone for our class together, as he reminds us:
Mindfulness is an important aspect of meditation practice, but don’t objectify it. Don’t make it into a big something that you aren’t doing right. Don’t expect magic to happen when you do get it right.
Idealism is one of the occupational hazards of the spiritual path. It can be the death of any practice. When we create a spiritual ideal, we hold tight to some vision of where we think we should be, then we use that idea to not be where we are.
Keep it simple.
When I get up in the morning, I brush my teeth. If I don’t, I stink. It’s not so different with meditation. If I don’t do it regularly, I stink or at least meet my day and perform my tasks in a habitual [rather than intentional] way.
Read the whole piece here
You can read more about Frank Ostaseki’s book The Five Invitations here. And more about Frank and his body of work here.