Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

So today let's explore the question,

what does spiritual maturity look like?

And is there a criteria by which we

could measure some kind of degree

of success in our own practice?

So, although progress on the path of

waking up unfolds differently for every

one of us, and there's not a straight

path, you know, there's times that are

more challenging and rocky and there's

times that are much more easeful.

But over time, there are two particular

qualities that emerges what we could

call fruits of sustained practice.

These are the signatures of

somebody who's able to really

hold more presence in their life.

And these of course are also two

criteria by which you can get some rough

measure of success in your own practice.

Now it's not to do with how long

you could meditate or what kinds of

special experiences you might've had.

But rather you can measure some

form of success in this practice,

by the degree of peace that you feel

within and the degree of wisdom and

kindness expressed in your actions.

So as the sixth Zen patriarch

said, "Do not tell me that kindness

and awareness are separate.

Awareness is the foundation

of kindness and kindness is

the expression of awareness."

So each time we practice mindfulness, we

tap into what Ram Dass calls, the loving

awareness at the heart of who we are.

And we tap into the

qualities that come with it.

Wisdom, compassion,

kindness, peace, and joy.

And with repeated practice, those

qualities become a way of being.

And then of course they affect

everyone we know, and everyone we meet.

So knowing that, I'd like to thank you for

your practice and invite you to join me

for today's meditation in the spirit of

u, cultivating more inner peace, kindness,

and wisdom, both within us and without.