THE MINDFUL PATH

Buddha said those who are mindful are on the path to the deathless, and those who are mindless are as if already dead. But how do we become mindful? Sharon Salzberg, who has been practicing Buddhist meditation for over twenty-five years, offers this definition: “Mindfulness means being aware of what our present experience is without necessarily reacting according to the habits of our minds.” We can choose to set aside five minutes a day to be mindful, or we can practice loving-kindness and mindfulness all day long. We all have our own path and our own unique challenges, as well as the potential for our own unique form of enlightenment. But Salzberg reminds us that, “We share this life, we share this planet--we can move through this life on Earth with a sense of connection rather than separation.”