Remain Aware Even When Life Feels Bitter | Meditation on Restlessness & Proliferation

Can we remain aware even when experience is bitter—when life isn't happening the way we think it should? This meditation begins with the fading bells and the quieting of the six senses. We practice staying aware without requiring the present experience to become pleasant, peaceful, or different. Drawing from the Madhupiṇḍika Sutta (MN 18) and the teaching on restlessness and remorse in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10), we observe what happens when experience doesn't meet our expectations. Restlessness arises. Thought multiplies. The mind remembers, anticipates, resists and imagines how things should be. The practice is not to make the bitter sweet. It is to remain aware even when it is bitter. Bitter is known as bitter. Restlessness is known as restlessness. Thinking is known as thinking. We learn that awareness does not depend upon getting the experience we wanted. Cambridge Peace House https://cambridgepeacehouse.org