If you had to guess, how frequently does the mind go negative? Psychologists say it’s about 80% of the time. So much of our day our minds are in a place of worry, anxiety, or some kind of judgment of ourselves or others. All of these thoughts are states of consciousness, which are these “mind moments” that are creators of the feeling of stress. And most of the time, our minds are doing this unconsciously.
That’s why meditation is so effective, because when you place your attention, you’re protecting your mind from going to those negative places. A moment of mindfulness is a moment of protection of the consciousness. Have you ever meditated and felt calmer afterwards? That’s because of mind moments. With each moment of mindfulness, we’re putting drops of tranquility and ease into our consciousness, and protecting our minds.
So if you meditate, and you’re a little careless about your meditation — you’re just kind of thinking, or a little bit hazy — your mind’s not protected in that moment. You want to be careful and respectful in your meditation practice, really practicing observation of the primary object. If it’s the breath, which is a very subtle object, observe the movement of the breath, wherever you feel it. Maybe it’s the rising and falling in your belly. Maybe the breath is deep, maybe it’s shallow — it doesn’t matter. What matters is connecting your attention to the object and sustaining that attention, so the mind has continuous protection.
That doesn’t mean the mind doesn’t wander, and you shouldn’t think of it as a failure when that happens. That’s just seeing the nature of the mind—wandering, wandering, wandering—and then we bring it back, back, back, back.
It’s not the breath itself that’s important, but awareness of whatever is arising in the present moment. If you have a moment of anger while you’re sitting, you can become aware that you’re angry. That moment of awareness is actually a peaceful moment in consciousness. Even if the reverberations of anger are still there, mindfulness keeps you from feeding the anger further. Instead, you are feeding peace. So it’s really powerful, and it’s consequential. Every single thought, word, and action ripples out with consequences.