Whole mind -Mindlessly mindful

I often talk with meditation practitioners about their experiences during meditation. Quite often I hear about the places that they meditate. This is because many of us put quite a good bit of stock in where the meditation takes place. Most of us also speak of meditation in terms of “awareness” or “mindfulness” when we describe meditation. But for me there are several directions that meditation can take that are within my control as I begin meditation. These directions quite often get lumped into a single meditative amalgam. So I would like to discuss Mindful meditation and how simple it is and what it is not. Mindful to many people is what we are at the beginning of a meditation when we are following the breath, the heart beat or performing a task. Mindful meditation follows a distinct pattern and takes account of a focused action –our whole mind is “on point”. Mindfulness requires no more effort than making tea as with the tea ceremony, or breathing as with the breath meditation but I find that that is where some, myself included have fallen short. Once we begin to be mindful there is that subtle distraction that very subtly invites some small part of our mind to sneakily slink off in another direction. Like the wonderful lark singing in the background while I raked the Zen garden. No sorry –for that moment I raked and listened AND was in that instant no longer mindful. So over the years I have found simple things to do that seem to hold my mind fixed –I think we all do. One of these things for me is balancing stones another is drawing. When I can get the time, when schedules allow I like to sit especially if I can sit with my kids and do one-liners. This method of drawing is very raw -and is viewed as so elementary that it is very hard to find in galleries or professional presentations, but it is so very fun and meditative. It is a simple as writing calligraphy, or kanji. This is very similar to the ideals behind Zen gardens, where raking / lining the pebbles or sand takes your full attention.
A one-liner requires the artist to use a single line to define the outline and some detail of the subject in one continuous line. this is a great way to get budding artists to see their subject in layers with definable profiles and linear definition. And it's downright fun. At first try to draw an apple or cup with a single line -DO NOT lift the pencil until the drawing is completed. When you lift your pencil -your done. For a tougher and more conscious drawing, try to do this WITHOUT crossing over the lines you have drawn. I like to put a tiny "A" at my starting point and a "B" at the end, so I can follow my line when I look at the drawing in the future, And so that the viewer can have a few moments of mindfulness as well.This drawing method is very meditative from the stand point that it involves both sides of the brain to the exclusion of all else. You cannot help but become completely mindful.