Written by Jen Liu

“In mindfulness practice both on and off the cushion, we train and strengthen the muscle that allows us to choose, moment by moment, to match our action with our intention. … Setting this simple yet deep parameter reveals areas where self-actualization is already present and likewise areas where our inner instrument could use some tuning up and adjusting.”

In so many of life's scenarios, we're able to see more clearly in the rearview mirror when something we attempted didn't land how we meant it to. Days after a heated conversation, we reflect back to find we didn't express ourselves truly and accurately, but instead got swept up in the blinding influence of heightened emotions. Or, moments after hearing the timer go off at the end of a meditation session, we come back to the room with a sudden, sobering realization: "Whoa. I was so distracted that whole time, I feel like I barely meditated at all."

It is a jarring experience to notice absentmindedness after the fact. It can bring up difficult feelings of embarrassment — and that's on a good day. But rather than discarding those instances as total errors, we can search for the kernel of wisdom buried within them by asking two key questions: 1) Are we able to notice when our actions don't match up with our intentions? 2) When they don't, how can we learn to catch it while it's actually happening?

In mindfulness practice both on and off the cushion, we train and strengthen the muscle that allows us to choose, moment by moment, to match our action with our intention. For a set period of time, we create the intention to place our awareness on our breath, and evaluate in real time whether we are succeeding at gathering our energies and employing the internal faculties necessary to follow through. Setting this simple yet deep parameter reveals areas where self-actualization is already present and likewise areas where our inner instrument could use some tuning up and adjusting.

When we succeed in matching action with intention, it — quite simply put — feels good. There is a sense of syncing up: of body and mind working in harmony, of our internal time scale floating in balanced alignment with the present moment instead of tipping forward into the future or backwards into the past. There isn't that disorienting, disappointing "snapping back to reality" moment of realizing we've just been on autopilot. We don't need to snap back to reality, because the practice of being present means we were grounded in it as it was taking place.

The ability to match our intention to our action in real time, not just in hindsight, is one of the many skills we can cultivate through meditation. The lucidity that we develop by remembering to remember can be the difference between showing up in the world as a sleepwalker — constantly looking back on our own actions with confusion and dismay — or mindful and aware, here and now.