Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

The thought that your year-long journey of meditation and journaling practice will reveal to you your hidden aptitudes and possibilities fill me with gratitude and excitement. 

You have ten bountiful months remaining to fulfill your goals. External events will not actualize them. Only your inner resolve will bring about the changes you intend. Your intentions may not unfold exactly the way you imagine them but one thing is certain, by the end of the year mindfulness would have helped you grow happier, kinder and wiser. 

To grow into a better person the following attitudes toward meditation are essential during your practice:

1. Sit for meditation as though you have the whole day to meditate even though you plan to sit for ten or fifteen minutes.
2. Relax your body, breathe naturally and let the breath be your teacher. Follow it wherever it leads you. Suspend any opinions and judgements.
3. Don’t expect anything. Whatever comes, comes, let it. If good mental images arise that is fine. If bad mental images arise that is fine too. Let them pass.
4. Accept everything about yourself, good or bad. Be gentle with yourself. Accept the feelings that arise whether you hate them or love them. Learn to accept everything in the mind as being natural and understandable.
5. Question everything. Don’t believe anything that sounds spiritual or wise. Test for yourself. Let the results of your meditation and journaling practice be your guide to authenticity and truth. 

At first these unfamiliar attitudes may feel forced. But with practice they will feel more natural.

(Adapted from Meditation in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana, Wisdom Publications, First Pub. 2011)