9 Mar. Start again. This simple phrase can be a ready helper during mindful practice. It’s so easy to see the mind wander off. And it’s just as easy to remember, start again. This allows us to effortlessly and without judgment bring the attention back to whatever practice we were engaged in. We can use the reminder as many times as we may need in practice and in life.
In the S.N. Goenka Vipassana tradition, Goenka uses the two words, “start again” diligently throughout the ten-day silent retreat. It becomes such a trope that after so many days of not speaking it causes you to laugh a bit when he repeats it. While we continue to start again in mindfulness practice, we also may need to in life.
Artistic, sport, relationship, and business practices all require that we start again and again. To move any consequential or important objective forward, day after day we revisit and refine.
Starting again, day after day is one reason why @2:50 happens every day. Why not illustrate in practice what we emulate? Even if for a few minutes, it gives us an opportunity to turn the volume down on the outside world and watch the internal. By stopping the flow of mindlessness on a regular basis, we come to understand that we can stop it at any time. It’s never too late to start again.