sincerity

Picture this scenario. You are at a restaurant for a special occasion. The meal is high quality, the atmosphere is beautiful and you are with someone you love. Now here are two ways this can play out.

First, you are looking around noticing what all the other diners are doing and talking about, you are watching the waiters do their job, and perhaps even your cell phone tells you that a text just came in and you respond to it.

Another way this can play out is your whole world is at that table. You have no clue as to what is going on around you. All that exists is the tastes and smell of the food and the other person sitting across from you. You spend your time in deep conversation and gazing into each others eyes.

We have all experienced both and I know that the second feels so much better than the first.

In the first scenario there is no connection and no sincerity in anything you may say or do. In the second you are fully engaged in what is happening in that moment and nothing else matters. Everything you say or do will be done with sincerity.

Now the same holds true in meditation, Tai chi practice and prayer. We are looking for sincerity in all of these. When moving through my Tai chi form I gaze lovingly into the "eyes of Tai chi". When in meditation I look with adoration at dantian. When in prayer there is nothing but the connection of love between Spirit and I.

If we do not approach them with sincere love and attention, we can go through the proper physical motions of all the above and have nothing but surface level benefit to show for it. We must be fully engaged and allow ourselves to fall in love with that which is right in front of and within us. The attitude we bring to our practice is as important as the physical practice itself.