Practice mindfulness every day, practice mindfulness every hour… It’s easy to say, but it’s not easy to practice regularly… So I suggest that those in the meditation class should set aside one day a week to start practicing. It is true that in principle every day is our day, every hour is our hour, but in reality we are completely unable to take the initiative and we have the feeling that family, work and society take up all our time. So I suggest that they take one day a week as “my day”. This day will be the stepping stone to create the good habit of mindfulness practice.
Every social worker has the right to have one such day each week, otherwise we will easily lose ourselves in this hectic life. Let’s call this seventh day the day of mindfulness. To organize the day of mindfulness, we should prepare so that when we wake up in the morning, we can remember that it is the day of mindfulness. Hang something on the ceiling or in the mosquito net. For example, a word “mindfulness” or a pine branch, so that when we wake up, we can see it and know that this is the day of mindfulness, our “own” day.
Remembering that, we should smile to show that we are fully conscious and also to cultivate that full consciousness. Lying in bed, we begin to follow our breath, control our breath, breathe slow, long, and conscious breaths. Then we slowly lift the blanket and sit up (don’t throw the blanket and jump up as usual). Cultivate mindfulness in every gesture. We brush our teeth, comb our hair, shave or put on makeup gently and slowly, every movement is controlled in mindfulness. Follow our breath, grasp our breath, don’t let our mind wander. The same goes for morning exercises. Exercises should be done slowly, in time with long, light breaths. While exercising, maintain a faint smile on your lips.
We should set aside at least half an hour to take a leisurely bath in mindfulness. Sometimes after bathing, we feel light and comfortable. Then we can do housework, wash clothes, clean the house, wipe the table, fix the stove, arrange books and papers. These tasks must be done slowly and gently in mindfulness. Do it as practice, don’t expect it to finish quickly. The secret is to do it slowly. Put your mind into it, enjoy it, be one with it. We must find peace in doing these things. Otherwise, the day of mindfulness will be considered a failure. Beginners should keep silent on the day of mindfulness. The speed of movements under the influence of mindfulness is greatly reduced. Look at the Zen masters. They walk slowly, their every move is gentle, not rushed or hot-headed. This does not mean that we should not talk on the day of mindfulness. We can also talk and sing. But we should only talk or sing a little, while maintaining clear awareness of what we are saying or singing. Of course, we can sing while meditating. Know that we are singing and what we are singing about. However, we should know that while we are singing, the plot and melody can take us out of mindfulness if our concentration is still weak.
At noon we can cook our own rice. Eating, washing dishes, resting, all are practiced in mindfulness. In the morning after the house has been cleaned or tended to, we make tea and sit and drink tea in mindfulness. Set aside a lot of time for this task. Don’t drink tea like people eat pho or coffee at a shop before going to work, meaning too hastily. Drink tea leisurely and slowly, like the rhythm of the four seasons, like the rotation of the earth, leisurely, evenly, not hastily. Don’t look for the future. Live in the present moment. Only the present moment is life. Don’t equate life with the future. Don’t always think about going to the future. Don’t always think about starting. In the past, in “Butterflies flying monkeys yellow flowers”, I wrote:
You be the flower standing still by the fence, The smile, A part of the mysterious existence. I stand here, we are no longer leaving. Our hometown is as beautiful as the hometown of childhood. Please don’t let anyone trespass. I’m still singing…”.
In the afternoon we can recite sutras, copy sutras, write poems to friends, do anything we like from the week’s work. I remind you to do everything in mindfulness. Eat less in the evening, around 10-11 o’clock we sit and meditate until midnight after walking for about an hour to breathe fresh air, follow our breath with mindfulness, measure the length of our breath with mindfulness, measure the length of our breath with our steps back
Thieu!
we must find ways to absolutely respect the mindfulness day for social workers. This day is crucial and positively influences other days of the week.
Over a decade ago, thanks to such a mindful day, Brother Văn and other members of the Order of Interbeing led the school through many tumultuous phases.
Practicing a mindfulness day for three months will bring significant changes to our lives. From the mindfulness day, practice will spread to other days of the week, and we will be able to practice not just one day a week, but seven days a week. Thieu, do you see how important the mindfulness day is as a stepping stone?
Refer to: https://langmai.org/tang-kinh-cac/vien-sach/thien-tap/phep-la-cua-su-tinh-thuc/hay-la-nu-cuoi/
