Intention requires an ongoing renewal. It’s not enough for most people to set an intention at the beginning of their days to be kind, collected, and gathered. We need to be sensitive to all the moments when agitation or fragmentation is happening, hear the sounds of this in our minds and bodies, and bring new intentions in those moments. Say, “I can return to the touch of my feet on the ground. I can return to just this breath, to gather and to collect again.” It is so important to be doing this in our lives and not to just anticipate that a period of time on a cushion is going to have a magical effect in terms of developing samadhi [a calm mind] and connectedness. We must sense what it is like to sustain this intention to our days, both on the cushion and off cushion. The benefits will come; the benefits will be felt.
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From Tricycle’s 2023 Meditation Month Dharma Talk “Samadhi: Cultivating Inner Calm and Collectedness” by Christina Feldman.
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