Wanting, Wanting, Not Wanting, Not Caring: Mindful of Our Relationship to Experience

Here's an interesting mindfulness note: when we're awake, whatever we're doing, whether it's seeing or hearing or thinking or feeling, on subtle and not-so-subtle levels we're either enjoying the moment, not enjoying it, or not caring.

Generally, if we're enjoying the moment we want it to last (I'm thinking of a delicious meal or a moment of triumph). If we're not enjoying the moment, we can’t wait to get out of it. Being barraged by opposing counsel or a boss comes to mind, as do things like being caught in traffic or in a lie.

And if nothing in particular is happening and we're neither enjoying nor not-enjoying the moment, I don't know about you, but that's when I scroll, or space out, or disconnect.

 To paraphrase Carl Jung, being mindful of this function of mind, of the way we (otherwise unconsciously) filter our experience? That's when we get to choose how to live. That's when our unconscious is no longer running our lives, and we're no longer calling it fate.