Suffering is not the result of what is happening, but our relationship to what is happening. It is our resistance to the experience that escalates suffering. Our pain in an experience may be relatively great, but if our resistance to it is relatively low- our suffering is diminished.
As we begin to see just how ephemeral our thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations are- we come to hold them more lightly.
Our intention to practice mindfulness is a direction (i.e. process) rather than a destination (i.e. goal).
Refined ‘mindsight’ can bridge the reverberant connection between our ‘experiencing’ or ‘living self’ and our ‘observing’ or ‘witnessing awareness’.
If we don’t understand our own psychodynamics- the structure and characteristics of our difficulties- how can we possibly develop new, more adaptive behaviors?
“Witness consciousness”, “observing self”, or “awarenessing” is skillful, non-judgmental observation that allows us to clearly see our “reactionary forces” without getting carried away by them.
Mindfulness strengthens our mirror neurons, which helps us to cultivate empathy for others- “a sense of another’s private world as if it was our own”.