There is a whole world of happiness waiting for us to enjoy if we decide to look at it. When we practice mindfulness correctly we gain the opportunity to look out from a world of suffering onto the fullness of satisfaction.
Mindfulness is the window that marks the transition from suffering to contentedness. What’s missing from our lives is the training necessary to sustain our mindful awareness. Through insight meditation, we can gain an understanding of the four noble truths that will convince us to become more mindful:
- The truth of suffering: there is an empty unsatisfactory feeling in life.
- The cause of suffering: the mind has a tendency to reside in the past or in the future.
- The cessation of suffering that occurs when the mind is trained to reside in the present moment.
- The path leading to the cessation of suffering which is the insight meditation practice as taught by the Buddha.
When we gain insight into these truths through mindful observation of mental and physical phenomena, we fully embrace the promise of happiness that is waiting for us.