On "This Is It"

The title of today's reflection is "This is it"

It discusses the fact that this present moment is what we have, the moment when we choose our own path. We are in this moment and there is nothing more.

The chapter explains that "true" meditation is meditation for its own sake, for the purpose of being in the present. It's not *meant* to relax, to experience a special state, to become a better person, to reduce stress or pain, to break out of old habits and patterns, to become free or enlightened These are all good reasons to practice meditation, and may be a positive result, but the PURPOSE of meditation is not to achieve results, not to have a particular purpose. Other than simply being, of course.

I've always sought meditation to achieve results. Except when I was in Korea and in the temple meditating regularly. But there, I wasn't doing it for a particular reason, but because it was generally beneficial to centre oneself and to be present and in the moment.

Jigwang Sunim taught a lesson one week in our study group that being in the moment was so powerful because a moment can change ones life. A decision, while possible deliberated upon for a long time, takes only a moment to make. In a moment, choices are made. They are not made while we're in the past or future because there is no way to be in past or future. Now is when everything happens.

This chapter says something similar, and adds that when we let go of wanting something else to happen in this moment [aside from simply "being"] we are taking a profound step towards being able to encounter what is here now In other words, stop fretting about results and distractions, and just focus on existing for the sake of existing.

When I was taught to meditate, the key word was "nothingness." That's what meditation is: a state of nothingness, of being nothing. But not in the sense of blankness, of vacuum. In the sense of potential. Of a space that is empty because it's preparing to be filled. That makes it a dynamic nothingness rather than a static one.

The chapter ends with acceptance - that's what you're doing by being present in the moment for no other reason than "being." It's acceptance without prejudice whatever is happening in the moment, knowing that what happens in the next moment is yours to choose.

I'm not going to set myself any mindfulness tasks for the time being. I'm just going to try to integrate mindful thinking into my regular way of thinking. To accept and acknowledge what's happening in the present moment (especially the currently difficult times at work) and use the next moment for decisive action of my own choosing.