The practice: curiosity
The choice to judge rather than to know is the cost of peace.
“Perhaps the secret of living well is not having all the answers, but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.” Rachel Naomi Remen
Daily Challenge: Where in your life could you be more curious? Curiosity is our desire to know more deeply, to be open minded rather than assume, judge or rely on preconceived ideas. Curiosity is living in the state of discovery, not in a state of conclusion. Through curiosity, we have the potential to shift and change our perspective. So, what aspect of your life could you be more curious and open minded? Maybe you could bring a sense of curiosity and openness to the parts of yourself you don’t always like to look at or feel? How might things shift? What might you learn? Remember, they say a miracle is simply a shift in perspective.
“When we observe or listen to other people, we often don’t see them clearly or really hear what they’re saying. We see and hear our projections and prejudices instead.” Thich Nhat Hanh
Meditation Challenge: Interest is a key ingredient to mindfulness. Today as you sit in stillness, see if you can bring more interest and curiosity to your breath… as if this was the first time noticing your breath. Maybe even bringing appreciative awareness to your breath.
Where do you feel your breath most strongly, most distinctly? At the tip of the nose, in the chest or deep in the belly? See if you can anchor your attention in this area for a bit, steadying the mind through being with the breath. maybe even bringing appreciative awareness to your breath.
You may find it helpful to play around with the rhythm and length of each breath. Notice what you feel when you deepen the inhales for a few moments or when you extend and lengthen the exhales. What happens to the mind and body when you connect to the subtlety of each breath, the subtlety of the present moment?
When you bring your full awareness to the breath, what do you notice? Do all the other things in your life disappear for a moment… taking a break from the stories and judgments, the mind-made construct of the world? Does focusing on your breath allow your nervous system to relax, your whole system to relax? How does the quality of your attention affect the quality of your experience?
“My mother and father always pushed me away from secondhand answers- even answers they believed themselves. I don’t know that I ever found any satisfactory answers of my own. But every time I ask, the question is refined. That is the best of what the old heads meant when they spoke of being “politically conscious”- as much a series of actions as a state of being, a constant questioning, questioning as ritual, questioning as exploration rather than the search for certainty.” Ta-Nehisi Coates