This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

Guided Meditation: Undistracted Experience

Good morning, everyone. It is very nice to be back here with you all. It is also very nice to be here in my meditation posture, because it feels like a continuity of being together with a group of people on retreat these last two weeks. It is a continuity with all the people who I've had the good fortune to meditate with, share this life with, share these teachings with, and explore the Dharma^[1] with. Now here we are to do the same. I am very grateful and appreciative of all of you being here so that we can share this together.

A valuable question for people doing mindfulness^[2] practice is: what would I be experiencing right now if I was not distracted?

Sometimes we miss a lot in our lives by being distracted. We miss a deeper connection to our life in the immediacy of it as it is unfolding. We miss a deeper connection to ourselves and all the complexity of what it means to be a human being—to really be present for it all and not be distracted. If we're distracted, we miss a deeper connection to other people. That can simply be a deeper perception of others: to take them in, understand them, and really be attuned to what's going on for them.

We also miss the richness, the profound aspects of what happens between us as human beings and between us and the world around us. In that relationship and relatedness, in the way that there is a give-and-take, how we are meets how the world is and how other people are. In that mix, there is a richness, a profundity, and so much of value.

So, to not be distracted. Not be distracted by our judgments of what's happening that keep us removed from a deeper perception, seeing, and understanding. Not be distracted by our emotions, especially fears, aversions, and desires, which cloud the water. They make it more difficult to really be present for ourselves underneath the desires, aversions, and fears, and to perceive the world more deeply than only what is seen through those lenses.

What is your experience of life when you are not distracted? That question can be behind any time and place we find ourselves, but it can be right now as we sit here in this meditation. Maybe you will discover some answers to this question.

I encourage you not to answer the question with a distracted mind. Meaning, don't spend a lot of time thinking about the answer, commentating about the question, or reacting to it. Just sit down and drop that question into your meditation periodically as we go through these minutes together. See not what you answer intellectually, but what appears as an answer in your direct experience of here and now. What is your experience if you are not distracted?

Assume a meditation posture and gently close your eyes.

In the realm of what answers this question is our direct experience. Begin with establishing a connection to our direct embodied experience. Take a few long, slow, deep breaths—a ritual of connecting to now and here.

Have a feeling of your body from the inside out, as the rib cage expands. Then, let your breathing return to normal. For the next three or four breaths, continue relaxing your body: your shoulders, your face, your belly.

Settle into your breathing. Perhaps with every exhale, letting go of the thoughts that have arisen. Maybe letting go twice: once at the beginning of the exhale, and if there is enough time, perhaps letting go and relaxing at the end of your exhale. Maybe the exhale continues for a few moments more, relaxing into the silence.

What is your experience when you are not distracted by thoughts?

[Silence]

And then to add to the question: how might you appreciate others when you're not distracted? When you are not distracted, how might you better appreciate other people?

Dedication of Merit

It is customary, or a deep practice, to dedicate the benefits^[3] of Buddhist practice to the welfare and happiness of others. That might begin by appreciating the value and the importance of others. Simply appreciating other people is the beginning of bringing them benefit, happiness, and well-being.

May it be that our ability to be undistracted enables a greater appreciation of others, so that we are motivated to be in the world to benefit others.

May all beings be happy. May all beings live into their potential to be happy.

May all beings be safe. May their capacity to feel safe inwardly and outwardly come to a great fruition.

May all beings be peaceful. May their capacity to experience profound peace be easily accessible for them.

And may all beings be free. May the inherent possibility of being free from oppression inwardly and outwardly—may they be free of that.

May all beings be happy. Thank you.

Dharmette: Appreciation (1 of 5) Valuing Others

Hello everyone, and I am quite happy to be here with you all. What I would like to do this week is to continue this intermittent series that I have been doing when I am here, related to compassion^[4].

The premise around this is that the desire to live with compassion, to be more compassionate, is supported by understanding the many things that come together to really allow compassion to be strong, full, and complete. A quick, headlong movement into compassion might be okay, but it might leave out too much of ourselves. It might leave out the full embodiment, the full quality of compassion that is nourishing and beneficial—certainly for the people we have compassion for, but also for ourselves. We must ensure we don't leave ourselves out in being compassionate.

One of the reasons for that is that the way we care for others is so much better and cleaner if we have cared for ourselves properly, if we include ourselves as a foundation for a healthy form of compassion. Understanding the different elements and dynamics within ourselves that contribute to a healthy compassion is really important.

Many weeks ago, I said there were five different elements that come together for this kind of healthy compassion—the five A's: awareness, attunement, appreciation, aspiration, and action. Taking the time to understand these different aspects of compassion as foundations allows us to bring them along with us when we are going to be compassionate. This can become second nature after a while as we understand it, so it doesn't take that long. Each of these different foundations can be cultivated so that they are there more often for ourselves.

I have spent a week on some of these elements—there was a week on awareness and a week on attunement—and this week I want to spend on the topic of appreciation.

Appreciation is a wonderful quality. I hope that each of you understands that when you feel appreciation for anything at all, it is a nice feeling. It is an inspired, happy feeling to appreciate something: to appreciate oneself, to appreciate others, to appreciate our experience and our good fortune. The ability to appreciate is an enriching experience for anybody's life. Spending more time appreciating in a realistic way the goodness, the benefits, the well-being, and the good fortune we have is an antidote to spending too much time ruminating about our misfortune and what is not going right.

There is sometimes a certain bias that many human beings have for tuning into their misfortune and overlooking their good fortune. Some people live lives that are a dream for many people around the world who are poor, oppressed, and challenged in so many different ways. People who live in a modern Western society where there is so much available for us often don't appreciate how much is available, how much support and goodness there is, and how much benefit we get, because we focus more on the areas of our misfortune. This is not to dismiss misfortune, but to put it in the context of something larger—a more realistic context. One of those ways is to appreciate more and take in the benefits of appreciation.

For compassion, it is invaluable to appreciate the people we have compassion for, and to appreciate them in deep ways. Not in some surface way or as a policy of appreciation, but really to take people in. One way to really appreciate well is to not be distracted by our thoughts, concerns, and worries about people, or about what we feel we need to do. Not to be distracted by our sense of responsibility, which sometimes can be activating and, oddly enough, distance us from others if we inhabit the strong ideas and feelings of, "I should do something," "I'm responsible," "I have to do something," "It's up to me"—all of which perhaps puts the focus back on oneself. Instead, take time to be in our direct experience to appreciate others in deeper and deeper ways.

Appreciation is a number of things. One is to value whatever we appreciate; we give it value and importance. To appreciate other people is to see them as valuable, to see that they are important, precious human beings. If we want to be compassionate to people, we also need to consider what supports them, what they benefit from, and how their situation can be improved. Not a few people's situations are improved simply if they experience others appreciating them and treating them as important and valuable. Just to stop and do that is invaluable.

If we get caught up immediately with, "I need to do something," we miss the opportunity. There have been times when homeless people have asked me for something, and maybe it is my circumstance that I am not in a situation to provide them with what they want. There have certainly been times in my life where I just kept walking and ignored them. But realizing that it's a gift to appreciate people, I have turned towards them and said hello, or said, "I'm sorry, not right now," or "I wish you well," or "Thank you." To really stop, take them in, and look at them at least, not to ignore them, recognizing them as important people.

This can be done in all kinds of circumstances—in family, with friends, and at work—taking the time to recognize that they are important. Everyone is important. Seeing everyone as a valuable human being in some way or another by looking past what they do to see their potential, to see something deeper in them than their actions, is a great thing. Even people who are doing things that are harming others sometimes do it because they have never been valued themselves. They are hurt, and they are spreading the hurt around to others. The ability to stop and see them in a deeper way than their actions sometimes transforms them. That might be the beginning of what stops their maladaptive behavior.

Part of appreciation is also gratitude. There is a feeling of gratitude that we are receiving something from others—we are receiving their goodness, we are receiving benefit from them, and we benefit from the presence of others. What does it take to be grateful for a stranger? Grateful that they are alive, grateful that they connected us to life more fully, grateful that here too is where we bring our practice, our love, and our care.

The value is to see the importance of people, to be grateful that they exist no matter their circumstance. Whatever their age is, we appreciate them. Whatever their nationality is, we appreciate them. Whatever their race is, we appreciate them. Whatever their gender is—and now we understand there are many variations of gender—we really allow people to inhabit who they are and appreciate them deeply. It would be a gift to appreciate their sexuality, who they are sexually, whatever partnerships they have, whatever their orientation is. And again, to appreciate the variety and richness of sexual expression.

It is pointless to diminish people for their gender, their sexuality, their nationality, or their race. Instead, we step forward and say, "Yes, hi, you are an important, valuable, dignified, and equal member of the human race."

We appreciate whatever abilities people have. I appreciate so much now that we understand there is such a wide range of ways that brains operate, and abilities that people have. To view each one as a full human being regardless of—or exactly as they are—in their mental abilities, emotional abilities, and physical abilities. No matter who comes in front of us, let the first instinct, the first approach, be to take the time to perceive them without distractions. To perceive them without judgments, without commentary. To perceive them with a willingness, an openness, and a wisdom to see: "This too is a human being that can be appreciated as a human being, as they are."

There is a lack of this in our world. Probably wherever we go, we find a lack of people being appreciated deeply. I know people who, simply going to the supermarket and shopping, can feel that people don't appreciate them. There are so many reasons we do this. People who are short feel like they are overlooked. People who are old feel that they are overlooked. People who are of some minority race feel that they are ignored. People who display certain characteristics or features are ignored, dismissed, or worse.

It is a form of care, love, and benefit for oneself and for others to appreciate them, to be grateful for them, to open up and allow ourselves to see them as dignified and valuable human beings. Wouldn't this be a good foundation for compassion? Perhaps less compassion would even be needed in this world if we treated each other this way.

So appreciation will be the topic for this week. I am looking forward to it. I appreciate the opportunity to spend this week on this topic, and I appreciate all of you—not only for being present here today, but also because so many of you have been present for so long on these 7 A.M. YouTube sittings. I really feel it has been invaluable for me to be able to come in and offer these teachings and share these kinds of considerations.

I want to thank all of you. May we continue. Thank you.