Soft Power

Gentle, patient and persistent effort empowers one’s mindfulness practice. On a micro level, this is no more and no less than the energy required to wake up to what is occurring in the here-and-now. On a macro level, it has four aspects: to sustain wholesome (aka positive) mental states that have already arisen; to arouse such states when they have not yet arisen; to abandon unwholesome (aka negative) states when they have arisen; and to guard against negative states so that they do not arise. 

Image courtesy of Michael Leunig

These are traditionally known as the ’four great efforts’. They are not restricted to formal meditation practice. On the contrary, they are meant to be ongoing points for reflection, worthy of consideration at any time and in any circumstance. These efforts can be distilled down to four simple questions:
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• What is beneficial and worth maintaining?
• What is beneficial and worth developing or strengthening?
• What is not beneficial and needs changing?
• What is not beneficial and needs avoiding?

Reflecting on these questions regularly, and honing your actions accordingly, is a means to clarity and composure in everyday life. If this is a new idea to you, below is a fitting exercise as we enter a new year.

New Year’s Resolutions

Take a few minutes to run through the past year in your mind. What do you recall? What stands out? Are there particular highlights or low points showing up? What do you have gratitude for, even in terms of the smallest of moments? What do you regret, even in terms of the tiniest dream unfulfilled? What experiences, activities or events seem to have been positive, useful or enjoyable? Which were more negative, unsettling or difficult? Which seem neutral?


Now take a pen and paper and write brief notes around the following 10 questions. A couple of tips: Don’t think too hard, let yourself scribble in a spontaneous and uncensored way. Secondly, don’t discount the seemingly minor and run-of-the-mill reflections that come to mind as these often contain the real gold dust:
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• What is worthy of celebration from the past year? 
• At what times did I live in alignment with what really matters to me?
• What would be good for me to do more of?
• What would be good for me to implement or develop?
• When did my actions not align with what really matters to me?
• Have I done what I set out to accomplish in the year just finished?
• In terms of what I hoped to achieve, what got missed out?
• What valuable lessons have I learned?
• What would be good for me to release from or let go of? 
• What in my life is not serving me?

Your notes should contain within them some clues as to what would be good for you to maintain, to develop, to change and to avoid. Now you can set some clear intentions for the year ahead by posing yourself these four questions:
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• What aspects of my life are beneficial and worth maintaining? 
• What aspects of my life are beneficial and worth developing or strengthening? 
• What aspects of my life are not beneficial and need changing? 
• What aspects of my life are not beneficial and need avoiding? 

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