{"id":219,"date":"2011-01-14T09:18:13","date_gmt":"2011-01-14T09:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/eight-good-things-to-keep-in-mind-exploring-the-noble-eight-fold-path.html"},"modified":"2011-01-14T09:18:13","modified_gmt":"2011-01-14T09:18:13","slug":"eight-good-things-to-keep-in-mind-exploring-the-noble-eight-fold-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/eight-good-things-to-keep-in-mind-exploring-the-noble-eight-fold-path.html","title":{"rendered":"Eight Good Things to Keep in Mind: Exploring the Noble Eight-Fold Path: Effort"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"buddha_snow.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>Thank you to everyone who reads Mindfulness Matters and thinks deeply about the issues and participates in the commentary and discussion. I truly appreciate that.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The Noble Eight-Fold Path is integral to the Buddha’s teachings and I’ll present a series of eight, no surprise here, entries talking about each of these in practical terms.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I was talking about “effort” this morning and that inspired the idea to write about these. A little context first. The Eight-fold path fulfills the fourth of the Four Noble Truths. From my chapter in The Everything Buddhism Book, I list them as follows (the order on this list may be different from other lists you have seen or will see):<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
    \n
      \n
        \n
          \n
        1. Right Speech<\/li>\n
        2. Right Action<\/li>\n
        3. Right Livelihood<\/li>\n
        4. Right Effort<\/li>\n
        5. Right Mindfulness<\/li>\n
        6. Right Concentration<\/li>\n
        7. Right View<\/li>\n
        8. Right Resolve<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n

          “Right” could be substituted by “skillful” or “wise” and these terms carries less judgment. It’s not right in the sense of right or wrong, but right in the sense of what works. <\/p><\/div>\n

          <\/div>\n
          Let’s talk about effort today. While meditating effort has a different connotation than effort during, let’s say, vigorous exercise. It takes effort to meditate. We need to plan our day and get our butt on the cushion and keep it there. That’s effort. <\/div>\n
          <\/div>\n
          The crucial effort is returning our attention from fantasy to reality. Each time the mind moves into anticipation of the future, remembrance of the past, or commentary upon the present we are using our imagination. Mindfulness is the effort of returning our attention to what is happening now — the sensory-perceptual experience of now. It’s a tiny little effort — that shift in attention — yet crucial.<\/div>\n
          <\/div>\n
          The effort of mindfulness is NOT to keep attention from moving away in the first place. The effort is not suppression of thoughts. I can’t emphasize this enough. Our job is to return not to stay put. The implication here is that there is no wrong way to do the practice as long as you are making this “right effort.”<\/div>\n
          <\/div>\n
          The distinction is subtle and it creates freedom to practice, relieving the pressure that agendas, expectations, and rules impose on meditation. Just come back, over and over again. That’s Wise Effort.<\/div>\n
          <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Thank you to everyone who reads Mindfulness Matters and thinks deeply about the issues and participates in the commentary and discussion. I truly appreciate that. The Noble Eight-Fold Path is integral to the Buddha’s teachings and I’ll present a series of eight, no surprise here, entries talking about each of these in practical terms. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-shelf","category-buddha-101","category-mindfulnesss"],"yoast_head":"\nEight Good Things to Keep in Mind: Exploring the Noble Eight-Fold Path: Effort - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/eight-good-things-to-keep-in-mind-exploring-the-noble-eight-fold-path.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eight Good Things to Keep in Mind: Exploring the Noble Eight-Fold Path: Effort - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thank you to everyone who reads Mindfulness Matters and thinks deeply about the issues and participates in the commentary and discussion. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}