A simple Mindfulness exercise - observing leaves

Observing banana leaves.

I was looking at the banana leaves, creating some happiness for myself. And I am going to teach you how to. It doesn't cost a cent to be happy if you do not believe me try this.

Banana Leaves: https://unsplash.com/@rishal1123

The mindfulness exercise

Quit whatever you are doing right now. Just after reading this passage. You do not have even to come back to complete the reading. Just go out to an open space where there are trees. It is raining. Doesn't matter, even better. It's sunny? Find some place shady. Sit down on a bench or grass. Happy grass. And then watch the leaves. I have banana trees. I'm sure there is a maple or an oak tree nearby you. Maybe you are in most unlikely place in Madagascar then you will have Baobab trees. It doesn't matter which tree you are looking at. Just look at the leaves. Like you are looking at them for the first time. Do not try to think anything, do not try to not think either. Look at it like there is only you and the leaves are there in the universe. Just that, you and leaves, you and leaves. And this will make you realize there is only single observation happening in your mind. There will be happiness, but you would not realize this as you are just focused only on one observation. The happiness will be apparent only when you compare this experience some other day with something else. And this memory will be there till you die, the first time you saw the leaves. It is a simple exercise of mindfulness, yet I will illustrate how it works.

Oak Leaves: https://unsplash.com/@evgenslavin

Personal Experience.

How do I know right? Well, I have done it in the past and I do it still when I see my boat is drifting too far to the left. The mind is an amazing machine. It doesn't need anything to lean on, as long as we do not disturb the process. Sometimes we are doing too much, with the pressure from the external world. We believe in things which are not there and chase these illusions all our lives. We make ourselves messy and loud to show that our lives matter. Without asking the question from mind who is living? And what is living?

If you haven't done the mindfulness exercise, you can do it now. Or let's just imagine you did. If you can imagine I am sure it is even better as you know what to do next time on your vacation. I am going to show you little intuitions about life from this exercise.

Intuitions from the exercise

When you just keep the attention first you will notice the leaves are outside and you are looking at them. That is only what there is. Leaves and you, and you already know this. Think about it. All the burden of the past is not there in this moment. Burden of guilt and regrets. All the burden of future is not there now. Burden of anxiety unpredictability and dreams. Your mind is observing the leaves, and you are observing this observation. The mind and the leaves. And if you do it correctly you will notice they are no more two things. Leaves appear when mind disappear. Mind is there as long as you observe it. One time you observe the mind, one time you observe the leaves. And what is there is only an observation. And that is what I call singularity of life. The two worlds that we see ourselves are inherently a same lump of clay, molded into different shapes.

Maple Leaves: https://unsplash.com/@telliottmbamsc

Implications of the exercise

Implications of these observations are really different and subjective than the reality we believe in. For me when I realize these facts I felt so lonely. As I knew I have been living in this lonely sphere created by my own mind. I do not possess the power to reach outside to see what creates the ripples in my own world. As an example, I see the reflections of banana leaves created with information from my past, yet I do not know what exists in the so-called real world. The sad truth is there is no vehicle to get there. When I touch, I will feel with my past memories. When I listen, I will hear what I already know. When you read you understand what you understood from your past experience. So, the prisoner of mind is the best analogy.

I am sure this is the allegory of the cave what was mentioned by Plato. So, with mindfulness I am trying to explain how we can imagine the outside world even when we know we will never be there in time. When I know liberation is an illusion when I know nobody has been outside from their own caves, I do not expect to die with a dream, so the process of creating dreams would cease to exist. And I know all the lies, I tell you as you know I have never seen the sun, beyond my prison walls.