True meditation is simply being present, in the here and now, completely open to all that IS. No effort. No concentration. No technique. Simply being, seeing, and allowing.

If thoughts arise, let them arise. Don’t pursue them. If emotions arise, let them arise. Don’t resist them.

Like riding a bicycle, our thoughts and emotions have momentum. When we stop pedaling the bicycle, it does not immediately come to a stop. When we stop putting energy into the mind, it will take some time to settle into stillness.

Awareness and acceptance is all that is needed. The rest happens naturally.

Notice the movements of thoughts. Notice the gaps when thoughts subside, which may only be for brief moments at first. Notice that there is no sense of “I” in those gaps. The “I-sense” requires thinking to exist. In the moments when thinking has stopped, even momentarily, notice that there is still presence, there is still aliveness, but there is no sense of a personal self. In the gaps between thoughts, what remains is the real truth. Without thoughts, there is no this and no that, no here and no there, no inside and no outside – no divisions of any kind.

It takes practice for this way of being to move beyond momentary glimpses and to permeate our everyday life. Be patient. Keep it simple. Don’t expect miracles. Just continue noticing the presence, the aliveness that is here, looking out through your eyes. Each moment of noticing helps to bring about a gradual transformation, and the effect is cumulative.