Mindful conversations

I am very thankful for the conversations we shared this morning. I was moved and consoled by your generosity and the extent of your sharing. I think you are able to see the depth of the power of a mindful way of communicating with others.

This morning, we talked about getting to know ourselves: our emotions, feelings, and our suffering. We do that through the practice of mindful breathing so that we remain calm and get in touch with the ways we are feeling so that we can recognize the suffering of the other person. The fundamental premise is that neither side really wants to harm the other person, but our language can become an impediment to ability to understand one another. Mindfulness helps us become less judgmental and more willing to understand. Often, we find that our perceptions are incomplete or are misperceptions.

Our first step is to learn how to breathe and connect with our body. Often, we use our head and rationality to think about matters, but we do not respect what our bodies tell us. Our bodies hold tension somewhere and we have to find a way to identify it and release it. We can connect our mind with our emotions, we can connect our mind with our body and the environment around us. If we live in the city, we seldom see the nighttime stars or walk on grass or feel the beach sand beneath our feet. We are often cut off from our natural world. We put on head phones, which causes us to shut out the sound of birds, insects, and other humans. We no longer hear the silence. We can learn how to walk mindfully so that we become reconnected to the world around us.

Once we recognize the depths of our suffering, we can accept it. Over time, we can help transform it. Once we recognize the source of our suffering, we can recognize that others around us suffer, which then allows us to speak compassionate and understanding words.