How can I cultivate authentic happiness through mindfulness? Learn to develop positive states of mind and ethical virtues for true happiness in this fifth week of life with full attention.
‘Authentic happiness’ is what we experience when we get in touch with our virtues and strengths. It exceeds vedana of ordinary pleasurable activity. It is the fourth sphere of Buddhas four spheres of mindfulness. It is also the topic of the fifth week of life with full attention.
Dhamma can mean both ‘teaching’ and ‘truth.’ It is an awareness of experience in light of what we have learned. We are more happy, creative and tolerant when we act out of positive states of mind and emotion. If we want to experience authentic happiness, we need to learn to cultivate a positive state of mind. Mindfulness of Dhammas is about learning to establish ourselves in more openhearted attitudes, creative thoughts, and outward-looking volitions.
Practicing mindfulness of dhammas entails noticing and responding to what happens in our mind. It is the internal equivalent of changing the subject of a conversation. To be able to do this, we need to have developed a sufficient awareness of citta. When we do not know ourselves—our minds—sufficiently, we may ‘dampen’ our character. We try to be a nicer or more spiritual person rather than a more authentic version of ourselves.
We need to be clear about the forces we are taking on. Our habitual responses come from instinctive drives; self-preservation, power, status, sex, and greed. We need to be willing to feel these drives rather than to wish them away. It is from feeling and acknowledging them that we can decide on the best course of action.
Often, our habitual responses arise from genuine needs. We should look for those needs first. From those needs, we can strategise more helpful means for attaining them. When you notice a ruminating pattern in the mind, stop for a moment to find out what it is trying to tell you. See if you can respond to it in a constructive way.
Our aim is not to feel guilty or repress our instinctive reactions. It is to unlock the energy that lies within them.
When we desire something, we over-emphasize and romanticise the pleasurable aspects. We rationalise away the negatives, marginalise it, or dismiss it as unimportant. Our practice entails remembering that life has this twin aspect.
Our instinctive reaction to something unpleasurable is aversion. This reaction often overshadows any positive about the object of dislike. When aversion emerges, we should look for the positive, too, and imagine it clearly.
Mindfulness of shammas thus requires us to
- notice the state of mind we are in,
- create a gap of honest self-reflection, and
- decide on the best course of action.
Cultivating awareness of dhammas
The ‘five precepts’ of Buddhism are ethical guidelines—principles of training. Each has a negative aspect (what we are trying not to do), and a positive aspect (what we are trying to cultivate). These precepts are tools to develop virtues and strengths: kindness, courage, patience, honesty, and a willingness to learn. They are not ‘rules’ to constrain or confine us.
The precepts are as follows:
- refrain from harm—cultivate love
- refrain from taking the not given—cultivate generosity
- refrain from sexual misconduct—cultivate contentment
- refrain from lying—cultivate honesty
- refrain from intoxicants—cultivate awareness
We may start this week’s practice by taking an ethical inventory of our life. Consider each precept and explore which one(s) you can improve on most. Try to come up with specific examples, whether habits or not, where you can make a conscious effort to change.
Be fearless and completely honest with yourself. Your current responses only propagate your needs, there is no shame or guilt in that. It is, however, your responsibility to produce more healthy alternatives—in line with the precepts listed above.
If you make this practice a daily habit, you cultivate awareness of dhammas.
From this inventory, you can set out to take on a personal precept. For (at least) a week, try to work on one of the things you want to do less (or more) in line with the precepts. Make it actionable and specific, what will you do, and how will you make sure that you do it?
Acting against the precepts limits and constricts our awareness. We cannot be mindful with a troubled conscience.
The ‘four forces’ are how we cultivate mindfulness of dhammas from moment-to-moment. Practicing the four forces is the core challenge of this week.
- Eradicating already arisen unskilful mental states. Acknowledging and taking responsibility for being in a bad mood.
- Preventing the arising of yet un-arisen unskilful mental states. This entails being present and enjoying positive states of mind. It also entails self-care and keeping your life in order, such that practical disturbances do not get a chance. Neglecting good habits and slipping up on bad ones are early signs that we are headed for a negative state of mind.
- Cultivating the arising of yet un-arisen skilful mental states. Doing the things that we know put us in a positive state of mind. This entails practicing a life with full attention and getting our lives in order as well.
- maintaining already arisen skilful mental states. Care to not lose our mindful awareness when we are in a happy place. Do not get intoxicated (fifth precept) by our good mood!
In each, skilful mental states are positive mental states. Unskilful mental states are negative mental states. ‘Skilful’ makes clear that we are learning a craft; it will take time, application, and patience.
The mindful walk provides the perfect opportunity to assess which of the four forces is working on you. Practice the appropriate response to move toward (or stay in) a skilful state of mind.
Use your mindful moment or vedana journal cues to do the same thing. Assess your mind-state and see how you can improve or maintain it.
Below are the instructions for this week’s mediations: notice your state of mind and apply the forces.
- Day 1: settle into your body and feel your breath. Notice what happens in your mind when you lose contact. Acknowledge and accept whatever thoughts or mind-state arises.
- Day 2: cultivate awareness of where your mind wanders off to when you meditate. If you notice an unhelpful state of mind, see if you can cultivate the opposite.
- Day 3: look for pleasure within the breath. When you are distracted, see if the distraction beings you pleasure. When it does, see if you can experience the pleasure directly, without the surrounding imagery or story.
- Day 4: become aware of vedana around your heart: in your belly and chest. Reflect on a positive emotion; can you remember a time where you felt alive, connected, or absorbed in a pleasant activity? Notice any response in the aforementioned areas.
- Day 5: today, just sit still and try to do absolutely nothing.
- Day 6: bring your mind to people you feel grateful toward. Notice your inner response with complete openness to whatever arises.
- Day 7: Start by cultivating awareness of the breath. Then, bring to mind the things you already have. Bring to mind the things you like doing. Bring to mind your friends and what you appreciate about them. See if you can stay aware of this sense of appreciation, without losing awareness of the breath.
Fifth practice week
Having slacked a bit on my previous aspirations during the Christmas break, I am excited to start anew with the following practices.
Vedana diary
Whenever I feel a particularly strong vedana, or when I get my daily random reminder, I will write down:
- what I feel,
- where I feel it, and
- what might have caused it—which need was not met.
When the vedana is positive or negative, I will consciously look for the contrasting counterpart.
Daily meditation
I will follow the instructions provided in the book. Besides mediating in the morning, I will also meditate at night, followed by a ‘stream-of-consciousness’ in my journal.
Mindfulness moment
I will use my morning shower to assess my current mind-state. Whether positive or negative, I will try to balance it with the others’ thoughts.
Taking ethical inventory
During the weekend, I will take thirty minutes to an hour to take an ethical inventory of my life. For each precept, I will write down what I can do less and more for each.
Mindfulness walk
Since I have not improved on this habit at all, I will take the stairs whenever I arrive at work, and practice body-awareness there.