Present

They do not lament over the past,
they yearn not for what is to come,
they maintain themselves in the present,
thus their complexion is serene.

Samyutta Nikaya 1.10

Helping others

If a man going down into a river,
swollen and swiftly flowing,
is carried away by the current -
how can he help others across?

Sutta Nipata

Inside-out

There is no opening in us through which peace can
enter. We have to start within and work outward. Unless that becomes clear to us, we will always find another crusade.

- Ayya Khema

Separate kamma

"Do not torture yourself for the wrongdoings of others."

Accidental Dharma


I guarantee you can use this to counter the actions of a rude person you come in contact with. It should take no more than 24 hours. It's so cool to feel the freedom that you are able to accept bad things vs. the habitual leap to righteous indignation that only hurts yourself. I've used it twice today :)
-xinu

Not focusing attention on the CONTENT of awareness

There can be thinking and feeling, but we don’t forget ourselves. If, for example, pleasurable feeling is arising in the meditation and the thought ‘I like this’ appears, we don’t lose awareness and become limited by our identification with pleasure. We refrain from setting the focus of our attention on the content of awareness and, through not grasping, we cease to become lost in the joys and sorrows of existence.

Ajahn Munindo
"Unexpected Freedom"

It's like this

Here and now, body/mind, judgment-free awareness.

This moment is entirely adequate.

Just Sit

Usually when I sit in meditation I do nothing. I assume a conscious posture and simply observe what’s happening; maybe the mind is all over the place thinking about the liquorice I had the other night at somebody’s house, or about how it’s a pity the sun has gone in, or about how I will be in Beijing this time next week, or about how the monks at Harnham sent an e-mail asking whether they should use gloss paint for the doors in the monastery kitchen, and so on. Such thoughts might be going through my mind; they’re nonsense, but I do nothing with them. Absolutely nothing, until I start to feel a little bit uncomfortable, and then I watch to see where that discomfort is coming from. It is always coming from the same place: ‘I shouldn’t be this way. I should be ... My mind should be clear, I shouldn’t be ...’ Once this movement is identified, a settling occurs. When we identify that which takes us away from our natural feeling of centredness, we come home. This is not the same kind of effort one would be making in goal-seeking practice.

Ajahn Munindo "Unexpected Freedom"