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begets forgetting. Then, often tragically, you forget that you forgot, and thus an important insight is permanently lost. If nothing else, your daily mindfulness meditation helps you to not forget what you don't want to forget.

      If you're like me, you'll find that the most challenging part of being mindful is the non-judging part. It's one thing to be non-judgmental if an experience is agreeable, but it's another when some idiot in a huge vehicle forces you off the road into a ditch. You see what I just did? “Some idiot.” The fact is, I don't know anything about him. Was he distracted because he just lost his job or had some other difficult experience? Is he not an idiot at all? It comes back to me, to what I bring to my moment. I know nothing about his moment.

      Experienced meditators speak of having the beginner's mind rather than the mind of an expert. While the latter knows the answers, the former is not so sure, and is open to learn new answers, new experiences. Cultivate a beginner's mind.

      I ask you to consider yet again: Do not fret about your meditation practice, whether you're getting it right or not. It's right. Even if you never get to the second part of the meditation, the mindfulness part, don't worry or judge yourself. “Mind wandering” and just “spacing out” are psychologically beneficial. Your meditation is not so much about what happens for you as it is about how you respond to whatever happens.

      Keep in mind that this practice of mindfulness is a twofold journey, a double blessing: first, the mindful time right now as you consider new ideas and let go into a quiet period of stillness; second, that very stillness that will expand into all the moments of your life, transforming them into moments of deeper awareness and compassion, into ongoing mindfulness. If the first does not lead to an enrichment of the second, it's not accomplishing all it is meant to accomplish.

      So, later in the day or week, whether you're in a stressful situation or simply going about day-to-day living, you will have the awareness, the equanimity—the mindfulness—that you need and want in order to “be present.”

      You will have become a more mindful person, you will notice what you want and need to notice, you will do what you want to do, you will be who you want to be. Listen to an experienced voice:

       Spiritual practice is not just sitting and meditating. Practice is looking, thinking, touching, drinking, eating, and talking. Every act, every breath, and every step can be practice and can help us to become more ourselves.

      THICH NHAT HANH

      The opening epigraph to this introduction offers the much-quoted lines from the poet T. S. Eliot's “Four Quartets.” It seems an appropriate theme for our exploration of mindfulness and being present; after all, seeking to become more mindful is a true exploration—perhaps the most worthy one of all—for it is an exploration into yourself. My hope is that as you explore your life cycles, you will often know many places—again and “for the first time.”

      Part 1

Spring and Youth

      March

      Nature and Beauty

      March 1

       Spring is nature's way of saying, “let's party!”

      ROBIN WILLIAMS

      It's the season of new life and new hope.

      No matter what has gone before.

      Now is the time to have a party—whatever that might look like for you.

      Just be sure to have some fun.

      March 2

       Some monarch butterflies—they're beautiful with the black and deep orange wings—fly up to 2,500 miles to get out of the cold weather and hibernate.

      That's a long way to go to keep warm.

      Imagine a butterfly traveling 2,500 miles.

      This amazing planet holds so many mysteries . . .

      March 3

       If people did not love one another, I really don't see what use there would be in having any spring

      VICTOR HUGO, Les Miserables

      So spring, says Victor Hugo, is for encouraging people to love one another?

      What is there about the relationship between spring and the human being that makes a young person's fancy turn to thoughts of love?

      Springtime—love—you. Put them all together.

      March 4

       Some people walk in the rain; others just get wet.

      ROGER MILLER

      It all depends on your attitude.

      In your mind's eye, imagine yourself out in the rain.

      How do you want to be in that rainy moment? Rehearse it now.

      Live it when the rain comes.

      March 5

       What a strange thing!

       to be alive

       beneath cherry blossoms.

      KOBAYASHI ISSA

      Why is it strange?

      What picture do Issa's words form in your mind?

      Look at that picture for a moment.

      Then let it fade . . .

      Close your eyes . . .

      March 6

       The love of the body of man or woman balks account, the body itself balks account,

       That of the male is perfect, and that of the female is perfect.

      WALT WHITMAN, “I Sing the Body Electric”

      Bring your awareness to your perfect body—overlooking for now the possibly various ways it is not perfect—and see the beauty!

      The beauty!

      March 7

       Youth is, after all, just a moment, but it is the moment, the spark, that you always carry in your heart.

      RAISA GORBACHYOVA

      Some believe and teach that the person you are at ten years old—your likes, dislikes, beliefs, assumptions, and so on—is the person that you become for life. Thus, the values and events of the world during the year you were ten will give you insight into yourself.

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