Joy of Being - The Experience of Mindfulness

Before reading this blog, I invite you to ask yourself, "Why am I interested in mindfulness meditation?" Try coming back to, and assessing your answer afterwards.

Peace, Joy, & Contentment As Our Natural State

The peace, joy, and contentment that we all truly seek (which I will further refer to as "the joy of being") do not arise through accomplishing, succeeding, achieving, or attaining, but simply by resting in mindfulness: pure present moment awareness.

Yes, we experience brief periods of elation, satisfaction or triumph when something happens which aligns with our goals, efforts and/or desires, but that is not the joy of being that is being referenced. Think of the joy of being as the feeling we get when a sunset takes our breath away, when a song truly moves us, when looking out at the ocean, smelling a flower, or spending time with animals. These are common and relatable stimuli that bring about a state of mindfulness and simultaneously, the joy of being. In reality, this experience is present anytime and anywhere that a state of pure mindfulness is cultivated. How? By resting in and as the part of ourselves that is always content and at peace; that is totally free of desire and preference; and that is totally open and willing to experiencing the entire spectrum of a human experience. When we let go of fixation on any one experience and relax into a mindful state of pure awareness and nonjudgemental acceptance, we relax into mindfulness and experience the joy of being.

Understanding Thought and It's Limitations

One of the major obstacles we face with this practice is the mind. Something needs to be explained before elaborating further: We are not our thoughts. We experience our thoughts, just like we experience sound, touch, taste, smell, sight, and emotions. It is very intuitive that we are not the sounds we hear, yet we all (prior to investigation) naturally identify with the thoughts our mind creates. More specifically we identify with the voice in our head that calls itself "I" - the ego.

The ego is thought, nothing more. Identification with thought is a fundamental mistake that can be corrected through the recognition that because we experience thought as an object of our experience, we therefore cannot be it because: subject experiences objects.

Mindfulness meditation facilitates this understanding.

Upon recognition that we are not the ego, the mind naturally asks, "Who or what am I?" This is the right question, but it cannot be answered with thought. Any answer is by nature a thought and is therefore an object of experience. We already realized that we are the subject, not the object, so we cannot create thoughts that say, "I am X or Y" and have it be true. Thoughts that we create, which aim to describe who or what we are, are like poetry; they are just the best we can do to communication via language and utilize thought in order to point at something beyond it. A response I can give because I feel it points very well is this, "Our fundamental nature is that which is aware of all experience". I tend to refer to that fundamental nature as: mindfulness, awareness, consciousness, and being. Mindfulness meditation assists this realization.

Ignorance and Conflict Now, as for the joy of being, we experience peace, contentment, and a sensation of simple joy by resting in mindfulness, in and as our deepest nature of pure, present-moment awareness. It is available anytime and anywhere, but if that's true, then why don't we experience it all the time? The joy of being is obscured by ignorance; ignorance of our true self and the means by which we experience the joy of being.

Ignorance of our true self means we have mistaken our identity for the ego, for the "I" thoughts that take place in our head. Please remember that for the majority of us, this has been a lifelong habit and takes practice to correct. We will fall into this many times, but can recognize our mistake just as many times. That's the mindfulness meditation practice in action.

Ignorance of the means by which we experience the joy of being results in us thinking that there is something we need to do or accomplish in order to experience the peace of being. What is truly needed is to let go of all effort. The remembrance that the joy of being is facilitated through resting in our inherent state of pure being, pure mindful awareness which requires no effort or time, reminds us that all that is needed is to exist exactly as we already are. This is also the mindfulness meditation practice in action. So two things: Remember, and let go.

All conflict is a result of ignorance and when there is conflict, the joy of being is obscured. As long as there is conflict, as long as there is ignorance, there is the obscuring of the joy of being. Letting go of conflict and removing ignorance are synonymous and result in a return to the joy of being.

Realizing, experiencing, and remaining anchored in being is the mindfulness practice. Every individual that practices being peace, is also bringing peace to the universe. Thank you for your practice.

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This blog covers a lot and contains the deepest essence of the mindfulness practice. If things are not clear and if there is confusion, that is okay! I am here to help. If we have not yet met, my name is Sean and I am the founder and coach here at Rounding Edges. Teaching, coaching, and discussing meditation is my passion. Rounding Edges offers in-person and virtual group meditation classes open to everyone, 1-1 private meditation coaching, as well as corporate offerings for bringing mindfulness to the workplace. Thank you for your time and I look forward to our sessions together.

Sean

Founder & Coach

Rounding Edges Meditation Coaching