I Feel Like My Mindfulness Abilities Have Increased A Lot

[Joseph Maynor]

Like when I meditate now, do nothing meditation, I am naturally mindful of each event without trying to be.  Same thing when I was walking home last night, I was naturally catching all the ego/monkey mind games without even trying to.  I just saw them right after they occurred.  It's almost like I'm getting to the point where mindfulness and inquiry merge in the moment. I just see the ego/monkey mind games and go yep, there's one.

I've released all attempt to control, and have been operating this way fully for about 2 weeks now.

Also I've gone back to really appreciating the 1 hour meditation session.  It gives you just the right amount of time for all the magic of meditation to do its business.  

It's almost like all this enlightenment work does is program you to notice ego/ monkey mind games in the moment.  And then the dream auto-corrects through the awareness alone is curative principle.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[caelanb]

Wow, nice job  @Joseph Maynor. When I do my mediation, I try to focus on my breath, though for like 95% of the meditation I get carried away by my thoughts, so I'm pretty sure that's just my monkey mind taking over. And also, when I try to focus on the breath, my body starts to tense up a bit, so it's kinda annoying . But anyway, I would like to experience your level of mindfulness, it would be incredible:) Would you recommend any strategies/techniques? Thank you.

Edited October 1, 2017 by caelanb

[Brimstone]

Being mindful of being mindful, is being mindful itself.

Niceness

[Sri Ramana Maharshi]

1 hour ago, Joseph Maynor said:

Like when I meditate now, do nothing meditation, I am naturally mindful of each event without trying to be.  Same thing when I was walking home last night, I was naturally catching all the ego/monkey mind games without even trying to.  I just saw them right after they occurred.  It's almost like I'm getting to the point where mindfulness and inquiry merge in the moment. I just see the ego/monkey mind games and go yep, there's one.

I've released all attempt to control, and have been operating this way fully for about 2 weeks now.

Also I've gone back to really appreciating the 1 hour meditation session.  It gives you just the right amount of time for all the magic of meditation to do its business.  

It's almost like all this enlightenment work does is program you to notice ego/ monkey mind games in the moment.  And then the dream auto-corrects through the awareness alone is curative principle.

Sounds like you are have reasons to be confident in your meditation abilities, although I too am merely a student of reality humbly trying to share. Eventually, you will/or may attain to a level of mindfulness where you see potential becomings of emotional states and whole "monkey-mind" stories, bubble up from "the source" in the present moment, and you may experience the usual grasping release from story rather than the usual contraction.

In any case, this will come and go and ultimately disappoint, and if so the "search" may continue. Ultimately, the ego fades away from one's imaginary routine when it sees it can never "win" or be "free", and lets go in the manner in which you have designed it. Or there could be the experience of years and years of tug of war/arm wrestling with sticky beliefs that keep pulling the old hope traps out...or however you experience and attempt to discuss it. A wise man once told me it was often the case that the sense of self idea must be worn out over time like a pair of old shoes, often in spite of great Insight or beyond.

Many teachers and students alike claim that "mindfulness alone is curative". Sounds good, but it's a bullshit dream if you know the standard way the mind works according to the findings of most yogis. Contact occurs only *after* the mind has extended a fabrication (which depends on belief in a false sense of self), which means you are neck deep in the "bull" prior to any knowing period. This is why Buddhists discuss and gain insight regarding Right View - The 4 truths and the Tilikhana (3 characteristics of cond. reality) prior to contact with the unconditioned. So my teachers have warned me about the trap of finding exactly what I want via the search (eg. the ego wants immortality as itself, and many other "toys").

If "the dream" autocorrects through awareness alone (a Vedanta doctrine/dogma) then there's some potential wisdom right there. You are fabricating "the dream" and looking for reality...so if the dream self repairs, then maybe you have an insight about the healing properties of illusion/moha. Of course, the Buddhist doctrine makes the assumption that the user is looking for freedom from fundamental and other (self-survival based) suffering. With right view in place, Sati Sampajanna autocorrects for this. Monkey mind is no problem when its arising, dwell, and passing are all seen within mindfulness, then its just another sensation, not you, not yours.  What I try to study closest is which stories, hindrances, and "needs" make me crave and drop mindfulness long enough to go hypnogogic or get caught up in story in any way. A super realized teacher once told me: If you aren't in MIndfulness, you are in story.

Sorry about having to pull so much spiritual ego out for this lip flapping session. I guess I didn't feel I had a Sangha and for the first couple of years of Vipassana exertion, it was hard not having anyone besides "The Guru" to discuss shop with in meditation (they are often too smart to get reeled into that), but in the long run it was best and these kinds of things are mainly a distraction and food for something that already has plenty of sustanance. 

Indeed an hour is a great sit, whether you are noting or working on your Concentration in Samadhi. Much metta friend, don't take any of this too seriously, since its whole purpose is to eventually land you in a position where you enjoy life, while not taking it seriously to tragic proportions.

-Brett

PS: To be succinct: "Skillfully trained Mindfulness is curative." 

Edited October 2, 2017 by Sri Ramana Maharshi
To be succinct.