When we practice mindfulness, we are learning to tune into the natural expression of the present moment as it is right now, internally and externally. This way of relating is inclusive rather than exclusive, meaning we align with the natural, open awareness of the present moment and take in all arising phenomena, including both the internal and external ecosystems. In this state of open receiving, we cannot help but see the interplay between what appears as external and what appears as internal, recognizing how these distinctions are often more blurred than they initially seem.
Meditation practice therefore is not, and has never been, about creating a container of separation that shuts us off from the world. It is neither an escape from difficulty nor a retreat into mental illusions of an idealized world. Instead, it is about being with the truth of things as they arise in this moment, both internally and externally. From this being with arises insight into the inherent characteristics of natural phenomena and how our conditioned relationship with this arising and ceasing nature may lead to unnecessary suffering.

Being with or letting be is emphasized in practice because unless we are willing to know things as they are in this moment—including how we react or hold on—we cannot hope to develop insight that relieves mental suffering. If we begin by reacting to how things should be, we push away present experience because it is disliked or cling to ideals of how we would prefer things to be. In this reactivity, we attempt to change reality or impose ideals based on thought, rather than fully knowing the moment’s reality. As a result the responses that emerge are often based on how we feel things should be, including ourselves, rather than a recognition of the truth of this moment. However, the encouragement to ‘let things be’ naturally leads to the question:

Does this being with mean that practicing mindfulness makes us passive?
The reality is often quite the opposite. As we tune into the world within and around us, we become acutely aware of our sensitivity as human beings—how constantly we take in cues from our environment and how deeply this affects us emotionally, physically, and psychologically. This awareness leads us to make life choices increasingly informed by how specific conditions influence our well-being. This extends to tending to and caring for the external environment, which we understand as intimately connected to our own wellbeing. Our mental health and the ecological health of the natural world are not separate but aspects of one unified reality.
Through deeper recognition of our own suffering and emotional reality, we more readily see the interconnection and common beingness of all life—not just human life. We see how other beings suffer as we suffer and share a desire for happiness, the struggles of sickness, loss, life, and death, and the sensory sensitivity that defines existence.

From this understanding arises a natural desire to care for what we recognize as one being with ourselves. By tapping into present-moment attention, we harness a creative, responsive force that allows wise and compassionate responses to emerge. These responses are not pre-determined or based on how things should be but arise from being fully present with the moment—including its suffering and difficulty—so that clarity about how to help can emerge.

Take a moment to imagine yourself in your favourite place in nature. It doesn’t matter if it’s some potted plants on your balcony or a vast national park. What does it feel like? What can you notice in your body as you imagine this place?

Now, take a moment to think about some beings that you really love. Maybe it is a pet, a friend, or a family member. Can you sense the presence of this person and the love you feel when in their presence? What is this love? What is it that we love? Not to define it but to notice it as a bodily and emotional feeling.

Of course, we have ideas of people and places that we hold in our minds. But through feeling into our connection with nature and others emotionally and through the body, we begin to see that non-separation is not an abstract construct we must convince the intellectual mind of or argue over philosophically. It is the immediate and unremarkable expression of the heart when it emotionally encounters that which it recognizes as one being with itself.

Being loves Being. Nature loves Nature. In fact, we may begin to wonder if there is any difference at all between these three words or if they all mean the same thing.

This may seem abstract at first, as we may be used to practicing and allowing this type of resonance only in compartmentalized areas of our lives and with specific individuals. Yet, instead of seeing it as based on who the person is or our relationship with them, could we begin to see it as a willingness within ourselves to open up and connect through awareness and insight?

Similarly, when we encounter the non-human natural world from a place of mindfulness rather than intellectual analysis, the heart is already in this space of emotional resonance, where Being simply knows Being as itself. We experience this as a sense of peacefulness, connectedness and joy when we allow ourselves to really Be in nature.

All mindfulness practice does is help us tune into this ever-present reality through natural, unitive awareness, emotions, and the body. It helps us gain perspective on the veil that the socially conditioned intellectual mind places over this natural resonance.

So then the question naturally emerges, if we feel separate from life, how does this veil become established? Largely, throughout our lives we have been conditioned socially to conceive of ourselves as separate and disconnected entities existing in an external world that is not part of us and maybe even something to be feared or exploited. As a result, the conditioned thinking mind is trained to habitually emphasize doing and separation. To test this out for yourself, see in meditation does the mind always describe you as the doer of experience? Have you investigated this? Right now, do you even have the idea that you are ‘doing’ being? That you are ‘doing’ living?

Have you ever investigated into the reality of this?
Just sense into that without trying to change it, notice how the conceptual mind emphasises that there is a fixed reality called ‘me’ who is ‘doing’ something and the precondition of natural beingness goes overlooked. However, in this moment if you were asked to stop being could you do it?
How about mindfulness or awareness, is that something you are ‘doing’?
As you are reading this article you are aware. Whether you feel confused or happy or sad, only you can know but If I ask you to stop being aware can you do it?

In this way we learn to gradually see though the ways of looking that create a veil of obstructions over the reality of this moment where beingness and awareness are simply the underlying unchanging realities of this moment and every moment. The most obvious and unremarkable parts of your experience and ironically for this exact reason, the most overlooked. So why does it matter to notice them?

When we are resting in this state of noticing being and in awareness, we naturally become aware of the arising conditions of mind, body and heart. One of the things we will begin to observe is thinking, this is not to be feared or shyed away from. The encouragement is to really observe your thoughts but not so that you can change them or believe in them, but so you can see them for what they are. One of the things that you may notice is that the conceptual mind tends to centre all its stories on me. These stories of habitual thinking subtlety imply a coherent, unchanging identity—often inadequate, lonely, or desperate to solve problems. Notice that this thinking comes with an imperative that you need to solve these problems or self-define and there is  no time to pause, rest, or notice what’s already here.
As mindfulness deepens, we see these self-referential thoughts for what they are: thoughts—not enduring facts.

An ancient Indian parable describes a wanderer seeing a snake lurking in the grass as he is walking, he becomes startled and afraid but then on closer inspection he sees that in fact it is not a snake but a rope in the grass. The question is then asked, what happened to the snake?

In the same way we might see that that which has startled us and led us into actions based on fear, greed and hatred, that which would allow us to commit acts of destruction in the natural world was in fact something that was never true to begin with. The disconnected and inadequate self. When we look closer, we can’t find it. Investigate it for yourself, the fixed and unchanging ‘me’ that is implied, where is it’s centre? Would there be something to fear in letting that go?

Meditation constantly encourages us to ‘be with’ things as they are: the breath, the body, and the thoughts arising and ceasing. It invites us to look more deeply into whether these thoughts of self-identity truly remain so solid and fixed, or if, somewhere in the heart, we sense a deeper truth. This truth is mysterious, radiant, and beyond definition, as if the beauty of beingness itself is shining through this moment. It is not something that can be contained by concepts or words, and yet it is unmistakably felt.
Does this mean that it is wrong to engage with identities or allow them to express fully in our lives? Isn’t this game also part of nature? When we truly see that all conditions come to an end, a kind of freedom arises: the freedom to let the flower of the separate self bloom in its time, and when that time is over, to let it pass naturally into nothingness.

In this moment, nature is always revealing itself. We need only notice.
So, what is happening right now? Can you feel the aliveness in your body? Can you sense the simple presence of being?

Can you watch thoughts arise and cease, striving to form some fixed identity? Can you feel the emotions, memories, and sensations naturally flowing through awareness? What if all of this is just nature, moving and expressing itself?

What would it be like to let go of the struggle to control it, even for a moment? To relax into the flow of what already is and see what emerges? From this space, creativity, beauty, and restfulness may arise—or perhaps the wisdom to act with power and care. Maybe you will help the world in some way. Maybe you will simply rest, because that is what is needed. Only you can know.

Either way, this space of present-moment awareness offers a doorway to being at peace with things as they are, and from there, responding to the suffering of the world in a way that is uniquely yours, arising from the truth of your own being and the insight into non-separation.