36 lessons from Buddhist monks

Cory Muscara meditated 15 hours a day for 6 months and wrote a list of 36 things he learned. Here’s a few of the insights that stood out to me or made me smile. — CD

• There are 3 layers to a moment: Your experience, your awareness of the experience, and your story about the experience. Be mindful of the story.

• The moment before letting go is often when we grip the hardest.

• There is no set of conditions that leads to lasting happiness. Lasting happiness doesn’t come from conditions; it comes from learning to flow with conditions.

• The more comfortable you become in your own skin, the less you need to manufacture the world around you for comfort.

• Your mind doesn’t wander. It moves toward what it finds most interesting. If you want to focus better, become more curious about what's in front of you.

• You cannot practice non-attachment. You can only show your mind the suffering that attachment creates. When it sees this clearly, it will let go.

• Monks love to fart while they meditate. The wisdom of letting go expresses itself in many forms.