Ellen Langer has said that “most of us are mindless virtually all of the time.” We may strive to be kind, generous, and peaceful but it is not possible to achieve while we are trapped amongst the tornado of our own perceptions.
Realizing peace requires us to recognize when we are being mindless and, in that moment, start practicing mindfulness again. It’s a continuous loop because we perceive and interact in the world through a conditioned self that exists separately from everything else. This duality is misleading. You and I do not inherently exist separately; the reason we appear to exist as separate entities is because of the narrative we have created and the attributes we believe each individual has.
Protecting these beliefs disparages harmony. When we assign attributes to something we are programming ourselves to feel happy when the good attributes are present and unhappy when the desired attributes are not present. We become more peaceful by working to diminish the strength our perceptions have on us. There’s still joy in eating chocolate because it’s eaten when the conditions suggest it’s appropriate to do so—not simply because of an out-of-control desire to do so, which can lead to health problems or a fight with your friend.
We must be self-compassionate to successfully move around the loop of mindfulness—mindlessness—mindfulness, as Sharon Salzberg writes below:
