Mindful awareness frees us from habitual patterns, opening up a space between stimulus and response, allowing us to consciously choose how to respond to things rather than blindly react.

It is our response to the object of the mind that enslaves us, not the mind nor the object . As the Zen master Shunryu Suzuki said, "We pay attention with respect and interest, not in order to manipulate but to understand what is true. And seeing what is true, the heart becomes free."

How do you define meditation? It's cultivating good qualities in the mind. It's making conditions right so good qualities can arise. If, while sitting, you're dreaming up things the mind can feel greedy about; I don’t call that meditation. That's why I say that the mind "doing" the meditation is more important than the posture.

But people associate the word "meditation" with "sitting." The two words have become synonymous but this is a mistake.

When you are ill, consider you have the opportunity to practice insight meditation with every moment. You have to examine your pain very carefully to see that it is not your pain, nor your body. Simply see the natural phenomena of the physical and mental events as they arise and pass away. They are not you. They are not yours. You do not have any real control over them.

Investigate whatever is arising - thoughts, emotions, sensations - and let them pass without clinging or attachment.