A 12-Minute Meditation to Explore What’s True
In this episode of 12-Minute Meditation, Mindful founding editor Barry Boyce leads us in an inquiry practice to become aware of our preconceptions, loosen our grip on what we think we know, and explore what’s true. The post A...
In this episode of 12-Minute Meditation, Mindful founding editor Barry Boyce leads us in an inquiry practice to become aware of our preconceptions, loosen our grip on what we think we know, and explore what’s true.
By Barry Boyce February 24, 2022 FocusWhat our heart feels is influenced by what our mind sees. Preconceptions govern what we see and what we perceive. Sometimes these habitual patterns are helpful to us. A very simple example is that when we encounter a door and a doorknob, we know what to do with it. We also have preconceived ideas about how roadways, signs, and sidewalks work. All of those things help us navigate the world, so they’re helpful and necessary. At the same time, our preconceptions can be extremely constricting. When we enter a situation or look at a person, our habitual patterns that we’ve inherited and developed from our experience create a filter between a clear way of seeing and what we’re perceiving in our mind. This is the source of bias. Perhaps in our upbringing we were influenced by the media, and maybe our family, friends, peers, and community around us so that we now see certain people in a certain way.
Part of the goal of meditation is to create more ease, and more of a gentle and open heart—gentle to ourselves and gentle to others. So when we practice meditation, we can have a very light touch with our thoughts. When we let them go and we’re not grasping or judging them, they become more transparent. With the following meditation, we can take this idea beyond the traditional mindfulness practice with contemplation and inquiry.
The phrase that applies here is “not-knowing.” We’re asking ourselves what’s really true. This kind of inquiry can interrupt a rapid thought pattern that creates bias. We can loosen our grip on what we think we know.
Frank Ostaseski, a mindfulness teacher who has done lots of work with people who are dying and ill over the years says that not-knowing is extremely important for him. He says that when you’re spending time with someone who is sick or dying, our inclination may be to fill up the space, but it’s better to realize that you don’t really know what they’re going through. You can experience the situation more intimately with this attitude of not-knowing.
A 12-Minute Meditation to Explore What’s True
A 12-Minute Meditation to Explore What’s True with Barry Boyce
Show Notes
Find more from Barry Boyce here:
Come As You Are: A 7-Day DIY Mindfulness Retreat
“How COVID Reminded Me We’re All Connected”
And more from Mindful here:
The April 2022 issue of Mindful magazine: The Resilience Issue
More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation
Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].