Tag Archives: effort

January 11 – A practical guide to abandoning the unwholesome

Dear Friends, As we continue exploring the practice of abandoning unwholesome states, I would like to offer a recording of a meditation, talk, and Q&R with Shaila Catherine, titled Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind.https://sangha.live/dharma-library/beyond-distraction-five-practical-ways-to-focus-the-mind/ The first 30-ish minutes is a guided meditation that focuses on cultivating mindfulness and meeting thinking with interest, for the… Read More »

January 10 – Falling Into the Same Hole? There’s a Poem for That!

Dear Friends, As we explore the methods for abandoning unwholesome states, I invite you to reflect on a poem that illustrates what you might have experienced in this journey: Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Portia Nelson.https://www.mindfulnessassociation.net/words-of-wonder/autobiography-in-five-short-chapters-portia-nelson/ This poem captures the challenges and gradual progress we make as we learn to let go of unwholesome patterns. It reminds… Read More »

January 9 – Taming the Mind: Strategies for Letting Go of What Doesn’t Serve

Dear Friends, Our next topic focuses on the second wise effort: abandoning unwholesome states that have arisen. Joseph Goldstein offers this: “Mindfulness of [the unwholesome states] is always the first strategy; if we’re not even aware that they are present, there’s not much possibility of abandoning them. Sometimes mindfulness itself is enough.” (Mindfulness, page 393) However, some unwholesome… Read More »

January 8 – Let the breath come to you

Dear Friends, Sharon Salzberg offers a wonderful perspective on the balance between relaxation and energy in meditation in a short talk. She highlights how meditation is about finding a middle ground—cultivating calm, peace, and relaxation while also strengthening energy, alertness, connection, and interest.The balance of relaxation and energy in meditation (4:24) Sharon explains that too much relaxation can… Read More »

January 6 – Balancing effort

Dear Friends, Joseph Goldstein poses some questions about viriya: “What is effort? When is it balanced? When is it counterproductive?” (Mindfulness, page 242) He highlights how effort can sometimes be unskillful, such as when there’s a forcing of the mind, what he calls an “in-order-to” mindset. Joseph shares a story of his own experience with this, recounting how… Read More »

January 5 – Whatever you’re doing, don’t make it worse

Dear Friends, In a talk by Gil Fronsdal, he summarizes the four wise efforts as: If you’re not making it worse, don’t.If you are making it worse, stop.If you’re not making it better, make it better.If you are making it better, keep doing it. Talk: First Right Effort and Mettahttps://www.audiodharma.org/talks/9608?code=YLNL The first wise effort involves preventing unwholesome or… Read More »

January 3 – Is this action worth contributing my energy towards?

Dear Friends, Joseph Goldstein suggests reflecting on the preciousness of this human birth as a way to support the first effort of preventing unwholesome states from arising. He reminds us:“It’s precious because now we have the opportunity to weaken and eventually uproot these latent defilements that have been with us throughout our lives.” (page 392) Ajahn Sucitto offers… Read More »

January 11 – Let go, let go

Dear Friends, Gil’s fifth talk on viriya looks at “effortless effort.”https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11105 He describes the progression of effort as “deeper layers of letting go.” Effortless effort is a continuation of this flow of effort in a profound way. There is equanimity, non-reactivity, non-attachment. An analogy Gil shares is that of something tethered outside with a rope. Over time, the… Read More »

January 9 – Delight in our capacity to be aware

Dear Friends, So far we have explored the energy to get started (initiating effort), the way we can decide where to put our effort (right endeavor), and today, we will review what Gil calls Continuous Effort.https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11099 As he surmises, the phrase “continuous effort” brings up for me a tightness, a striving, a gotta-get-this-right feeling. And that is quite… Read More »

January 8 – What we let go of and what we cultivate

Dear Friends, The next aspect of viriya that Gil discusses is right endeavor.https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11093(Gil talks about the word “right” elsewhere: “it’s useful to think of it as meaning ‘appropriate,’ as when we speak of having the ‘right’ tool for a particular task.”) He uses the word “endeavor” as it is “what we are trying to do, what we are… Read More »