Practicing mindfulness in daily life is a way of meditating in daily life. It means being relaxed and in the present moment - not being lost in thought or trying to solve problems or worrying about the future or analyzing the past, or being carried away by your impulses and emotions. When practicing mindfulness and you find your mind wandering you bring it back to the present just as you do during meditation.
There are many many different ways you can be in the present moment. You can use a different technique at different times and in different situations.
- The simplest technique is to just be aware of what you are doing as you are doing it.
- Or you can notice your breathing like you are meditating.
- You can notice each movement you make. You can say to yourself a word or two to describe each movement such as "stepping", "reaching", "grasping", "moving", "placing", etc.
- Or notice or count your steps when walking.
- You can notice everything you see or hear or feel.
- You can focus your attention on your emotions. (That can be helpful, but overdoing it, dwelling on unpleasant emotions can be unhelpful.)
- Read slowly so you can read mindfully.
- Do puzzles or play word games slowly so you can do them mindfully.
- One way to practice mindfulness in daily life is to watch the activity of your mind (thoughts, emotions, impulses, sensory experience, and sense of self the ego) and the feelings in your body that accompany emotions and impulses. Take note when dukkha arises and observe it. Notice what causes it to arise and what causes it to fade. Notice how the sense of self (the ego) is always changing and is often intimately involved in dukkha. In this way you observe the three characteristics: dukkha, impermanence (arising and fading), and anatta (there is no permanent unchanging self), and you learn to break the sequence of dependent origination by relaxing and letting go at the moment of dukkha arising. Being relaxed helps you notice when dukkha arises because you see how dukkha disturbs your relaxed state, and it help you notice when you let go because you return to the relaxed state.
The benefits include breaking the habit of believing the stories your thoughts, emotions and impulses tell you about reality, that you have to be afraid, or angry or jealous, or this or that. When you are free from those mental habits, you can react to life with wisdom and compassion rather than out of control emotions.
In order to have the presence of mind to stay mindful in daily life you need to have a calm quiet mind. Relaxing meditation is very helpful at producing such a quiet focused mind.
In the artcle Enlightenments, Jack Kornfield explains that Ajahn Chah has a very similar philosophy:
His approach to enlightenment was not based on having any particular meditation experience, no matter how profound. As Ajahn Chah described them, meditative states are not important in themselves. Meditation is a way to quiet the mind so you can practice all day long wherever you are; see when there is grasping or aversion, clinging or suffering; and then let it go.
How Mindfulness Eases Suffering
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn explains:
And the interesting thing — and this is the study — when they put people through eight weeks of MBSR [mindfulness based stress reduction], this narrative network decreases in activity and this experiential network increases in activity and they become uncoupled. So they’re no longer caught together in such a way. So this one can actually attenuate and liberate you a little bit from the constant thinking, thinking, thinking — a lot which is driven, of course, by anxiety and, "What’s wrong with me?" The story of me is often a depressing story. And a fear-based story. We’re like driving the car with the brake on, with the emergency brake on. And if we learn how to just kind of release it, everything will unfold with less strain, with less stress and with a greater sense of life unfolding rather than you’re driving through it to get to some great pot of gold at the end, which might just be your grave.
The Four Establishments of Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness continuously all day (for at least a week) is, for practical purposes, equivalent to the third or fourth stage of awakening.
In the Sattipatthana Sutta, The Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, The Buddha said: "Should any person practice these four foundations of mindfulness in this manner for a week, then one of these two fruits may be expected by him: highest knowledge here and now, or if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the state of non-returning."
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.nysa.html
MN 10 PTS: M i 55 Satipatthana Sutta: The Foundations of Mindfulness translated from the Pali by Nyanasatta Thera ... Thus he lives contemplating mental objects in mental objects internally, or he lives contemplating mental objects in mental objects externally, or he lives contemplating mental objects in mental objects internally and externally. He lives contemplating origination factors in mental objects, or he lives contemplating dissolution factors in mental objects, or he lives contemplating origination-and-dissolution factors in mental objects.[25] Or his mindfulness is established with the thought, "Mental objects exist," to the extent necessary just for knowledge and mindfulness, and he lives detached, and clings to nothing in the world. ... Verily, monks, whosoever practices these four foundations of mindfulness in this manner for seven years, then one of these two fruits may be expected by him: highest knowledge (arahantship) here and now, or if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the state of non-returning.[28]O monks, let alone seven years. Should any person practice these four foundations of mindfulness in this manner for six years... five years... four years... three years... two years... one year, then one of these two fruits may be expected by him: highest knowledge here and now, or if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the state of non-returning.
O monks, let alone a year. Should any person practice these four foundations of mindfulness in this manner for seven months... six months... five months... four months... three months... two months... a month... half a month, then one of these two fruits may be expected by him: highest knowledge here and now, or if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the state of non-returning.
O monks, let alone half a month. Should any person practice these four foundations of mindfulness in this manner for a week, then one of these two fruits may be expected by him: highest knowledge here and now, or if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the state of non-returning.
Because of this it was said: "This is the only way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of Nibbana, namely the four foundations of mindfulness."
One could interpret this as stating that for practical purposes continuous mindfulness is equivalent to awakening. For practical purposes, when you maintain mindfulness continuously throughout the day you are awakened.
This might sound too good to be true, but the catch is that practicing mindfulness continuously in daily life is not an easy thing to do and it takes a lot of time and effort and practice to be able to do it.
But there is a very good reason why practicing mindfulness fully during daily life should have such a good effect.
We already have skills we need to let go of attachments and aversions and we use them quite often, but we don't recognize what we are doing in context.
But when you are mindful in daily life, you see how there are some attachments you let go of easily and you see what it is that you do when you let go. And with that recognition and insight, you can apply those skills to stronger and stronger attachments and improve your ability to let go of attachments.
And when you are mindful in daily life you see how there are some aversions you easily let go of and accept those things you don't like or don't want. And you see what it is that you do when you let go. And with that recognition and insight, you can apply those skills to stronger and stronger aversions and improve your ability to let go of aversions.
Continuous mindfulness in daily life would also seem to be a clear way to measure your progress on the path.
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