Back by popular demand, Sharon Salzberg’s Real Happiness is available to Tricycle Community members for the month of April. So if 
you missed the Tricycle Book Club discussion in February, or didn’t get to ask Sharon all of the questions you wanted to, this is your opportunity. Sharon will also be hosting a Tricycle Retreat this upcoming month, entitled “The Five Hindrances.” Our hope is that the book and retreat combination will help enrich your meditation practices.
From Real Happiness:
Straightforward and simple (but not easy), meditation is essentially training our attention so that we can be more aware—not only of our own inner workings but also of what’s happening around us in the her and now. Once we see clearly what’s going on in the moment, we can then choose whether and how to act on what we’re seeing.
We first train our attention by focusing on a single chose object (most often our breath) and repeatedly letting go of distractions in order to return our attention to that object. Later we broaden the focus to include whatever thoughts, feelings, or sensations arise in the moment.
People have been transforming their minds through meditation for thousands of years. Every major world religion includes some form of contemplative exercise, though today meditation is often practiced apart from any belief system. Depending on the type, meditation may be done in silence and stillness, by using voice and sound, or by engaging the body in movement. All forms emphasize the training of attention.