All Day Long

We talk about being mindful all day long. That means keeping in mind the fact that you have to watch over your mind and sort out which potentials in the mind are skillful and which ones are not. All day long. When something comes up in the mind, is it going to take you in a good direction or a bad direction? We’re not just “aware.” We’re keeping in mind the duties that the Buddha set out, and we’re trying to observe those duties all day long. That’s what it means to be mindful.

Some of us don’t like that word duty. Well, think of it as an opportunity. You have an opportunity to free yourself from unskillful thoughts and to give yourself skillful thoughts. Take advantage of that opportunity each time you breathe in, each time you breathe out.

Meditation, the word bhavana, doesn’t mean sitting with your eyes closed. It means developing, and in particular, developing good qualities. You want to do that all the time. The more consistently you do that, then the more you’re really on the path. Otherwise, it’s like a businessman who makes a little bit of money and then goes and squanders it. Then comes back and tries to make a little bit more and then squanders it again.

We sit and meditate and we get our minds to behave—and then we allow them to wander around for the rest of the day. That’s not good. It’s a waste.

The Buddha didn’t say that the duties of the four noble truths apply only when you’re doing formal meditation. They’re to be done all the time. And he gives you the practice of concentration to give you strength, give you nourishment as you do that. You want to make sure you use that nourishment well. The law of karma is not like the laws of traffic, where they say you can’t park on this side of the street on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Karma is 24/7.

So you want to be alert and awake as best you can for 24/7, except when you’re asleep. As soon as you wake up, make the determination: “I’m going to start the practice right now, each time I breathe in, each time I breathe out.” Try to maintain that intention until you go to bed at night. That’s how you can be mindful all day long—alert all day long, ardent all day long. All three of those qualities have to go together for you to benefit the most from them.