Force, guilt, and willpower won’t produce a sustainable practice, not least because of the negative emotions they stir up. Training yourself means working on your motivation and intentions until the simple acts of sitting down and meditating follow naturally.

The condition in which the mind “stands back” to observe its own state and activities is called metacognitive introspective awareness.

Attention analyzes our experience, and peripheral awareness provides the context. When one or the other doesn’t do its job, or when there isn’t enough interaction between the two, then we respond to situations less effectively. We may overreact, make poor decisions, or misinterpret what’s going on.

Stable attention is the ability to intentionally direct and sustain the focus of attention, as well as to control the scope of attention.

Attention analyzes experience, and peripheral awareness provides the context. When one or the other doesn’t do its job, we misinterpret, overreact, and make poor decisions.

The simple act of consistently sitting down and placing your attention on the meditation object, day after day, is the essential first step from which everything else in the Ten Stages flows.

When the mindfulness of a samurai warrior fails, he loses his life. When we lack mindfulness in daily life, something similar happens.

Take note of, savor, and even purposely induce feelings of peace and happiness, especially as your attention becomes more stable and you experience more inner calm.

Meditation is a series of simple tasks, easy to perform, that only need to be repeated until they bear fruit.