At the very root of our mindfulness is the heart-felt intent to take care. It is the insight and energy to invite, embrace, and cradle our non-duality- a harmonious integration of an observing and experiencing awareness. It is the antidote to the defilements of mind- for e.g. greed, anger, despair, lust, jealousy, etc. When we energize our awareness with mindfulness, we are naturally taking care of our moment-to-moment consciousness. We are improving the circulation of our consciousness in cleansing and purifying the cognitive and emotional toxins embedded deeply in the subconscious infrastructure of our psyches. The energy of mindfulness penetrates the deep pockets of our resistance- the blocks and walls of our ‘mental formations’- as well as the pain and wounds deeply sewn into the fabric of our root or primordial consciousness.

When we take care of our root and active consciousness, we stimulate good circulation of the psyche. We invite and allow the seeds of our consciousness to flow into awareness- and to make their presence known. In the presence of this open and curious awareness, these “seeds” may be touched, soothed, and transformed by the energy and light of our mindfulness. Calm, stable, and focused, we stay with our ‘mental formations’ regardless of their content. In doing so, our benevolence to receive and accept allows relief and restoration as we de-energize with awareness the roots of our pain and suffering. Within what we receive and perceive via the mindsight of open awareness and free attention is the insight necessary for transformation.

The discipline of meditative practice and awareness training strengthens our capacity to penetrate, break down, and dissolve our afflictions. We expand the mind and nourish the heart through our compassionate curiosity to explore and examine the deep underlying truths of our desires and aversions. Through the self-perpetuating and spontaneous insights of mindful awareness, we may come to know the nature of our being- of all that it is as it is, and as it may become.

When we really start paying attention to the workings of the mind, it is truly amazing what we can discover about conditioned thoughts, feelings, and sensations- as well as the underlying and often subtle impulses that stimulate them. By taking care again and again, we can actually change the neuro-circuitry of our extended nervous system by training and re-networking our higher or “executive” brain functions. The energy of mindfulness is the genesis for our circuitry of care…

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